Lesson 5: Practice

Now let’s practice what you’ve learned. As we discussed earlier, sometimes the causes of an event happen in a sequence in which one event leads to another in a chain. Depending on the event or situation, the writer must explain how the causes in a chain are related to each other. Look at the causal chain below, then read the short passage that follows to see how this chain was developed into a paragraph. 

Cause 1                                   Cause 2                             Result

Bad weather    ——->    slippery roads ——->    auto accidents

Auto accidents occur more frequently when the weather is bad. Rain, snow, and especially ice can make the roads slippery. Drivers can easily lose control of a car on slippery roads. A car can slide on the pavement and hit another car or go into a ditch. Therefore, bad weather can lead to more accidents on the road. 

Notice that in the passage above, bad weather does not cause accidents directly. Bad weather leads to slippery roads, which can create conditions for auto accidents to happen. 

In the following example activity you will see related causes in a casual chain. Put them in the right order by numbering the causes 1 through 3, so that they form a logical causal chain. Pause the video and complete the exercise before moving on to the answers.

Example Activity 

____ a. The worker is unable to pay his bills. 

____ b. The worker borrows money from the bank to pay bills. 

____ c. A worker loses his job.

Result: The worker goes into debt.