Cause and Effect
A cause-and-effect relationship is when something happens that makes something else happen. In other words, the cause creates the effect. Cause-and-effect relationships are often used in informational text.
Cause and Effect Examples
For example, a text may say that when the weather is cold, a person may start to shiver. The cold weather here is the cause and the shivering is the effect of the cold weather. Cause-and-effect relationships are also found in stories.
For example, if Mae is late to school, she might lose recess time. In that case, being late to school is the cause, and the effect, or result, is her losing recess time. Let’s take a look at this sentence right here.
The rain came down so hard that all of the leaves fell off the trees.
We have a cause-and-effect relationship here. We know what the effect is the leaves fell off the trees. What’s the cause? The rain. We can say that the cause is heavy rain and the effect of that is that leaves fell off of the trees.
We have another example:
Billy was skating on a hockey rink. The laces on one of his skates came loose. He couldn’t control his skating. He ran into another skater and they both fell down.
We know the effect here is that he ran into another skater. That is the effect. He ran into another skater and they both fell down. What’s the cause here?
You may be tempted to say that he couldn’t control his skating and that caused him to run into another skater. While that’s true, the actual cause is that the laces on one of his skates came loose, which caused him not to be in control of skating, which caused him to run into another skater, which caused them to both fall down. What started all the dominoes falling over here was that the laces came loose. That’s a look at cause-and-effect relationships.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q
What is cause and effect?
A
Cause and effect is best described as a relationship between two or more events, where one event causes the other event to occur. Take a look at this example: “The rain came down so hard that all of the leaves fell off the trees.” We can see that there are two events happening here: 1) it’s raining and 2) the leaves fell off the trees. It would be strange to say that the leaves falling caused the rain to pour, so we know that rain was the cause and the leaves falling was the effect.
Q
What is a cause and effect essay?
A
A cause and effect essay is a paper that’s written in order to analyze or discuss the reasons why an event took place and what the specific results were. For example, if you were to write a cause and effect essay about hurricanes, you might first discuss what causes the hurricanes and then analyze the effects of a hurricane.
Q
How do you write a cause and effect essay?
A
A cause and effect essay contains an introduction paragraph, body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. The introduction paragraph should be used to introduce the reader to your chosen topic. The body paragraphs should discuss the causes and effects related to your topic. Finally, the conclusion paragraph should restate your thesis and summarize your main points.
Q
What is a cause and effect relationship?
A
A cause and effect relationship is when an event takes place that causes another event to take place.
Q
What are examples of cause and effect?
A
- The room became brighter once I turned the light on.
- The boy fell off his bicycle and broke his arm.
- I had to get the mop since I spilled my water.
Q
What are clue words for cause and effect?
A
As you’re reading a text, there are several clue words that will help you identify a cause and effect relationship:
- because
- so
- since
- thus
- cause/caused
- therefore
- then
- if
Q
What are good cause and effect essay topics?
A
Any topic that allows you to discuss the reasons and results surrounding an event will work well for a cause and effect essay, including:
- The effects of pollution
- The danger of tornadoes
- The effect of social media on how news is spread
- The flooding caused by melting ice at the poles
- The effects fast food has on different generations
- The effect advertisements have on brand image
