📖 ReadingGrade 3Lesson 12
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Understand Cause and Effect

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What you will learn

  • 1Define cause and effect and explain the relationship between them
  • 2Identify signal words that show cause-and-effect relationships in a text
  • 3Find the cause and its effect in a paragraph or short passage
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Mini Lesson

A cause is why something happens. An effect is what happens as a result. Understanding cause and effect helps you see how events and ideas in a text are connected to each other.

Cause vs Effect

  • Cause = the reason or event that makes something happen ("why")
  • Effect = the result or outcome of the cause ("what happened")
  • One cause can have more than one effect
  • One effect can have more than one cause
  • Ask: "Why did this happen?" → that is the cause. "What happened?" → that is the effect.

Signal Words for Cause

  • "Because ..."
  • "Since ..."
  • "The reason is ..."
  • "Due to ..."
  • "As a result of ..."

Signal Words for Effect

  • "Therefore ..."
  • "So ..."
  • "As a result ..."
  • "Consequently ..."
  • "This led to ..."

Words to know

Cause

The reason why something happens

e.g. The cause of the flood was three weeks of heavy rain.

Effect

The result or outcome of a cause

e.g. The effect of the flood was that many roads were blocked.

Consequently

As a result; used to introduce an effect

e.g. She did not practice; consequently, she struggled at the recital.

Chain reaction

A series of events where each effect becomes the cause of the next

e.g. The ice melted, which caused a chain reaction of flooding downstream.

Cause and effect arrow diagramA cause box on the left with an arrow pointing to an effect box on the right, showing the relationship.Cause and EffectCAUSEWhy ithappenedEFFECTWhathappenedAsk: "Why?"Ask: "What happened?"Example:Heavy rain fell for 3 weeksTherefore, the river flooded the town
Cause and effect signal wordsTwo columns listing signal words for causes on the left and effects on the right.Signal WordsCause wordsBecauseSinceDue toThe reason isAs a result ofEffect wordsThereforeSoAs a resultConsequentlyThis led to
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When you spot an effect, ask "why did this happen?" to find the cause. When you spot a cause, ask "what happened because of this?" to find the effect. The two always come as a pair.

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← Lesson 11: Compare and Contrast IdeasLesson 13: Sequence Story Events →