Cause and Effect sentences in Essays

Cause and Effect Sentences often show how bad or good you realize the topic that is being described. Cause sentences give you the reasons why something happened, they answer the question “Why did the event happen? ” Effects are the direct results or consequences of an event, they respond to the question “What happened because of the event? ”

All these cause and effect sentences are clear and understandable. But in academic writing they should be united using transitional words and phrases. You can use:

Afterward, Eventually, Finally, in the end, Soon after, Subsequently, As a result, as the result of, Since, Consequently, As, because, Because of, So that, Therefore, Resulted, Caused, Thereby, Due to.

Let’s see how we can link two cause and effect sentences together using various transitional words.

Since he got hepatitis, all his college mates stopped seeing him. All his college mates stopped seeing him because of his hepatitis. As the result of his hepatitis, all his mates stopped seeing him. He got hepatitis, and consequently all his college mates stopped seeing him.

Notice the difference between as a result and as a result of. As a result is followed by a full sentence (independent clause) and introduces an effect. As a result of is followed by a noun phrase and introduces a clause. He got hepatitis and as the result all his college mates stopped seeing him.

Notice that ‘ Thereby’ is most frequently used in front of –ing phrases. He got hepatitis, thereby stopping all the college mates seeing him.

Exercise № 48. Connect the sentences

1. Native Americans began trading bison skins to the settlers. They wanted steel knives and guns. (As, Since)
2. They began killing bison in larger numbers. The near extinction of bison. (Resulted in, Caused)
3. Great Britain was the most powerful nation of the world in the 18^th century. The Industrial Revolution achievements. (Due to, As the result of)
4. Dmitry Medvedev sacked Yuri Luzhkov as the Mayor of Moscow. The loss of trust. (Due to, Because of)
5. 85 bison survived in Yellowstone National Park in 1892. It saved this species from total extinction. (As the result, As the result of)
6. Natalie wants to be fluent and communicative if English. She studies English round the clock. (As, So that)

Exercise № 49. Join the sentences together.

1. She ignored so many phone calls from the college. She actually kissed goodbye to her higher education. 2. Janice got home late. She missed her favourite programme. 3. Alvin missed the bus. He woke up late. 4. He realized how stupid idea it was. He did not have sufficient amount of money to pay for that glorious dinner.

Exercise № 50. Finding Errors in Cause/Effect Paragraphs: Read the paragraph below. Put proper transitional word.

There are several possible reasons why my father is in excellent health, even though he is over eighty years of age. For one thing, he is in excellent condition …. he has stopped smoking cigarettes. He quit smoking cigarettes … whenever he climbed stairs he would invariably stop several times and cough loudly. His good health is also ….. his cutting down on the wrong kinds of foods. For example, whereas before he would eat fatty red meat and deep-fried dishes several times a week, nowadays he seldom does so. He has more energy ….. He is also in good physical shape ….. his devotion to exercise. He swims three times a week at the local gym, and on sunny days he prefers to walk home rather than take the bus. ….. my father is in better shape than some of his children are!