General English Level 5 V 3
UNIT 02 The world we live in TOPIC 05 Trees or jobs?
LANGUAGE FOCUS 03 Cause and effect
Melinda says:
Melinda:
When we cut down trees from a wide area, rain washes away the topsoil and causes erosion. This leads to pollution of rivers, as the fertilisers are washed away with the soil.

When something makes something else happen, we call this cause and effect .

In the first sentence, rain is the cause . Erosion is the effect.

rain erosion

In the second sentence, erosion is the cause and pollution is the effect.

erosion pollution
Melinda also says:
Melinda:
Perhaps in theory. But in practice, the large machinery destroys the soil structure, resulting in less regrowth for several years.

Destroyed soil structure is the cause and less regrowth is the effect .

We can use leads to , causes , results in to show cause and effect .



Present

CAUSE
EFFECT
Very heavy rain results in flooding.
leads to
causes

Past

CAUSE
EFFECT
New logging operations resulted in new jobs.
led to
caused

Future

CAUSE
EFFECT
The changing world temperature will result in a rise in the ocean's level.
will lead to
will cause



With the word cause , we can also use the passive .

CAUSE
EFFECT
Pollution in industrial areas is caus ed by factories.
The destruction was caus ed by the storm.

Examples

Droughts are caused by lack of rain.
Cutting down trees leads to a reduction of oxygen levels.
An increase in the number of bears in our forests has resulted from the protection of wildlife.
The monsoon rains are caused by huge changes in air pressure and wind direction.
Overfishing will lead to a shortage of some types of fish.

Now go to 04 PRACTICE Cause and effect.