Cause and Effect in Academic Texts
Cause and effect relationships are an essential element of many academic texts. Understanding these relationships will help you to
answer reading questions and also help you to write academic essays in which you have to give causes and effects.
Cause and effect are often presented in the same sentence. Either the cause or the effect can be at the beginning of the sentence so
you have to look for clues in the vocabulary which the writer uses. These clues help you to understand the text effectively.
EXERCISE 1
The following sentences have both cause and effect in the same sentence. Match the cause and effect to the sentence parts a) and
b).
1.
a) Countless lives have been saved b) through UN funded vaccination programs worldwide.
2.
a) The university’s policy toward disabled students b) produced benefits for the population both at university and in the
wider community.
3.
a) The relationship between government and small business owners has improved markedly, b) owing to the twice annual
small business owners and government forum in which business owners can voice their concerns and ideas.
4.
a) As a consequence of the reintroduction program, b) golden eagles can now be found in northern parts of the country.
5.
a) A significant impact has been made on our understanding of sub-atomic particles b) by the work done at the CERN
laboratory in Switzerland.
6. a) The farming of cereal crops such as wheat and barley is undergoing constant change b) as a result of improved herbicides and
pesticides and the increasing use of GMO types of crops.
choose one
7.
a) Unfortunately, many houses have lost electricity b) because of the storm that effected the area overnight.
8.
a)Recent changes in the price of construction materials b) has had an important impact on the price of new houses.
9.
a) Increases in airport tax in Europe in recent years b) has led to some airline companies canceling flights into Europe.
10.
a) The problems in the business sector b) were triggered by a lack of trust between investors and the government.
EXERCISE 2
Read the following text and complete the flow chart with the appropriate word or words from the text.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE
The land best known for pyramids and sphynxes, Ramesses and King Tut was also an innovator in science and mathematics.
Ancient Egypt was a land of rural villages and farmers who relied on the annual flooding of the great river Nile to lay a rich layer of
sediment on the land, ensuring its fertility in the next growing season. Land was restricted to a narrow fertile area along the banks of
the river Nile. The importance of this limited area of fertile land produced advances in geometry
which were needed by the Egyptians in order to agree on the boundary of an individual farmer’s piece of land. Improvements in the
mathematics of building grew out of this development in mathematics. For example, the geometry required to build rectilinear
structures and stone temples. Because of the need for the measurement of land, early on the Egyptians invented the decimal system
of counting. It also led to the development of mathematics for calculating volume. This was put to use in a very practical way to
calculate the amount of grain a granary could hold and thus how many people could be fed.
The consequence of these early advances in mathematics can be seen realized in the gigantic stone structures of the pyramids at
Giza, the largest of which has a base are of 13 acres. In order to construct these huge structures ancient Egyptian builders had to
employ their understanding of geometry and volume as well as their understanding of astronomy and social organization.
1.
.
2.
The Importance of land surveying led to advances in ______________________
3.
It also allowed for the pharaoh’s scribes to calculate how much _____________________ was held in his granaries.
4.
This allowed for an assessment of how many people could be _______________________in times of need.
Advances in mathematics resulted in better building techniques for _________________buildings.
5.
An impressive result of these advances was the construction of the ______________________which required the use of
many skills.