TO: All Commuters FROM: The Station Management Unfortunately, we will no longer provide an after-noon snack concession at the train station.. In addition to poor sales, the south wall of
Trang 1Cause 1: Ed’s father was always in the garage.
Effect 1: Ed would spend hours watching.
Cause 2: Ed would spend hours watching.
Effect 2: Ed became fascinated by cars.
Cause 3: Ed became fascinated by cars.
Effect 3: Ed began tinkering with cars.
Cause 4: Ed began tinkering with cars.
Effect 4: Ed’s father encouraged him.
Cause 5: Ed’s father encouraged him.
Effect 5: Ed could tear an engine apart by himself.
Cause 6: Ed could tear an engine apart by himself.
Effect 6: He got a job as the chief mechanic.
Va r i a t i o n s
When One Cause Has Several
Effects
Sometimes, one cause may have several effects: Several
things may happen as a result of one action In the
fol-lowing passage, the writer explains several effects of the
new marketing campaign:
Our new marketing campaign has been a
tremen-dous success Since we’ve been advertising on the
radio, sales have increased by 35% Our client
refer-ences have doubled, and we’ve had greater client
retention rates Furthermore, we’ve been able to hire
five new sales representatives and expand our
terri-tory to include the southwestern United States
According to the paragraph, what were the effects
of the new marketing campaign?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Answers
1 Sales have increased 35%.
2 Client references have doubled.
3 Client retention rates have increased.
4 Five new sales representatives have been hired.
5 Territory has been expanded to include the
Southwest
When One Effect Has Several Causes
Just as one action can have many results, one action can have many causes as well The following announce-ment is an example
TO: All Commuters FROM: The Station Management
Unfortunately, we will no longer provide an after-noon snack concession at the train station Although poor sales are one of the reasons that this service will
no longer be provided, there are actually several rea-sons why the concession is no longer a viable option
In addition to poor sales, the south wall of the train station (where the concession is located) will be undergoing a six-month renovation that will force the closure of the snack concession In fact, the ticket windows on that wall will be closed as well Fur-thermore, from this point forward, the station will close its doors at 6 p.m due to new town regula-tions, which will cut the rush-hour commuter traf-fic coming through the station in half Finally, Mike
Trang 2Alberti, the proprietor of the concession has decided
to say farewell to his concession business, and after
35 years on the job, Mike will be retiring next month
While none of these factors on their own would
have caused the long-term closure of the
conces-sion, combined, each makes it impossible to
con-tinue running an afternoon snack concession for
the foreseeable future
Why is the afternoon snack concession at the
train station being discontinued?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Answers
You should have noticed four causes in the
announcement:
1 Poor sales.
2 A renovation on the side of the train station where
the concession is located
3 Town regulations will now close the station at
6 p.m., which will decrease commuter traffic
significantly
4 The proprietor of the concession has decided to
retire
Contributing vs Sufficient Cause
You’ll notice that the previous announcement informs
commuters that “none of these factors on their own
would have caused the long-term closure of the
cession.” This means that each of these causes is a
con-tributing cause A concon-tributing cause helps make
something happen but can’t make that thing happen by
itself It is only one factor that contributes to the cause.
On the opposite end of the cause spectrum is the
sufficient cause A sufficient cause is strong enough to
make something happen by itself Sufficient cause is demonstrated in the following paragraph
Dear Mr Miller:
It has come to our attention that you have breached your lease When you signed your lease, you agreed that you would leave Apartment 3A at
123 Elm Street in the same state that you found it when you moved in You also agreed that if the apartment showed signs of damage upon your departure, then we (Livingston Properties) would not return the security deposit that you gave us at the time you moved into the building Upon inspec-tion, we have found a great deal of damage to the appliances in the apartment as well as the wood floors Consequently, we will not be returning your security deposit
Here, you can see that there is one clear reason why Livingston Properties will not return Mr Miller’s security deposit He breached his lease by damaging the apartment he rented from them (If you don’t know
what breach means, you should be able to determine the
meaning from the context.)
E v a l u a t i n g O p i n i o n s a b o u t
C a u s e a n d E f f e c t
Sometimes, in a cause and effect passage, an author will
offer his or her opinion about the cause or effect of something rather than facts about the cause or effect In
that case, readers must judge the validity of the author’s analysis Are the author’s ideas logical? Does he or she support the conclusions he or she comes to? Consider, for example, two authors’ opinions about instituting mandatory school uniforms
– W H Y D O T H I N G S H A P P E N ? A L O O K AT C A U S E A N D E F F E C T –
7 7
Trang 3Paragraph A
Mandatory school uniforms are a bad
deci-sion for our district If students are required to wear
a uniform, it will greatly inhibit their ability to
express themselves This is a problem because dress
is one of the major ways that young people express
themselves A school uniform policy also directly
violates the freedom of expression that all Americans
are supposed to enjoy Consequently, young people
will doubt that their basic rights are protected, and
this will affect their larger outlook on civil liberties
Furthermore, school uniforms will interfere with
the wearing of certain articles of religious clothing,
which will create tensions among certain religious
groups that can lead to feelings of discrimination In
addition, school uniforms will place an undue
finan-cial burden on many low-income families who may
not have the money to spend on new uniforms every
year, especially if they have several children Finally,
school uniforms will negate one of the most
important concepts we can teach our children—
individuality When push comes to shove, we’d all be
better off choosing individuality over uniformity
Mandatory school uniforms are a step in the wrong
direction
Paragraph B
Mandatory school uniforms will have a
tremendously positive impact on our district If
stu-dents are required to wear a uniform, it will greatly
inhibit gang behavior since they will no longer be
able to wear gang colors As a result, schools will
experience an overall decrease in school violence
and theft Since violence is one of the major concerns
that parents, teachers, and students raise about our
district, this change will be welcomed with open
arms In addition, school uniforms will instill a
much-needed sense of discipline in our student
body, and discipline is something that is,
unfortu-nately, in short supply in our school district Also,
students dressed in uniforms will feel a strong sense
of community with their peers, which will lead to a
more harmonious school environment Finally, if students were wearing school uniforms, adminis-trators and teachers would no longer have to be clothing police, freeing them to focus on more important issues than whether someone is wearing
a dress that is too short or a T-shirt with an inap-propriate message You can make our schools a bet-ter place by supporting mandatory school uniforms
What effects does the author of paragraph A think mandatory uniforms would have?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What effects does the author of paragraph B think mandatory uniforms would have?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
You’ll notice that both authors take one cause— mandatory school uniforms—and offer several possi-ble effects Often, authors will use the cause and effect structure to make arguments like the ones we’ve just seen: one for and one against mandatory school uni-forms It is up to the reader to determine whose argu-ment seems most valid
Trang 4S u m m a r y
Understanding cause and effect is an important skill
not only for reading comprehension, but also for your
daily life To analyze the events happening around you,
you must be able to understand why those events
happened—what caused them Similarly, to make deci-sions or evaluate the decideci-sions of others, you must be able to consider the effects of a possible decision
“Reading,” not only texts but also events and situa-tions, requires you to understand cause and effect
– W H Y D O T H I N G S H A P P E N ? A L O O K AT C A U S E A N D E F F E C T –
7 9
■ As you work today, consider the effects of any recent changes in your office, such as new equipment that’s been installed, a new system or procedure that’s been put in place, a new manager or other employee How will these changes affect the work place? Your job in particular? Or forecast the effect
of changes that are coming For example, how will the upcoming layoffs affect the company?
■ Consider recent events at home or at work What might have caused them? For example, if a coworker just got a promotion, consider what he or she might have done to get that promotion Or if a child is having trouble at school, what might be causing that trouble?
Skill Building until Next Time
Trang 6Like an architect designing a building, a writer must have a blueprint—a plan for how he or she will
organize the passage So far in this section, we’ve looked at several ways that authors may organize their information and ideas:
■ Lesson 6: Chronological order Ideas are arranged in the order in which they occurred (or in the order in
which they should occur)
■ Lesson 7: Order of importance Ideas are arranged in order of increasing importance (least important idea
to most important idea) or in order of decreasing importance (most important idea to least important idea).
■ Lesson 8: Compare and contrast Ideas are arranged so that parallel aspects of item A and item B are
com-pared and contrasted either in block style (AAAABBBB) or point-by-point style (ABABABAB)
■ Lesson 9: Cause and effect Ideas are arranged so that readers can see what event or series of events caused
something to take place or what effect an event or series of events had.
L E S S O N
Being Structurally Sound: Putting
It All Together
L E S S O N S U M M A R Y
Today’s lesson pulls together what you’ve learned in Lessons 6–9 and gives you more practice in discerning the structure of a reading passage
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8 1