Important Notes : Cause And Effect

Introduction:

Cause means logical or scientific reason of an event. In other words, we can say that the strong point behind any reason is known as Cause and the impact of the cause is known as Effect.

In the questions of cause and effect candidates are asked to determine that a given event is a cause or an effect.

Candidates should always remember that causes always occur before the effect and the effect happens at the same point of time after the cause.

The question of cause and effect are designed to test the ability of candidates to analyze a pair of given statements and then correlate them as cause and effect.

Important points to solve CAUSE AND EFFECT questions

Point 1:   The cause will always occur before the effect. Hence, if two events are given then the effect that is chronologically antecedent to the other can only be regarded as a possible effect.

Point 2:   A necessary condition for the occurrence of a specified event is a circumstance in whose absence the event cannot occur.

Point 3:   A sufficient condition for the occurrence of an event is a circumstance in whose presence the event must occur.

Point 4:   Both the events express the generalized result that may not be backed by any specific cause but may influence certain other factors.

Point 5:   The effects in both the given statements may be caused or triggered by a third unmentioned event which may thus be called the common cause of the given events.

STRATEGY TO SOLVE CAUSE AND EFFECT QUESTIONS

Step I.     Check if both the events are at least related.

Step II.    Next, if one event precedes other it means the one that happened earlier might be the cause as the cause always occur before only then we can see its effect.

Step III.   However, if both the events are in Present Perfect Tense you would not be able to decide which occurred earlier, here most probably one is not the cause of the other but this may not always be true. In this type, use your knowledge and logic.

Direction:

In this type of questions, two statements are given. Out of these two statements, one may be the cause and other the effect or either these two may be independent causes of any effect or independent effects of any cause etc.

The following examples will give you a clear cut idea to solve this type of problems.

Example1:

I.      Mac's father was ill.

II.     Mac brought medicine after consulting the doctor.

Explanation:

As Mac's father was ill, he brought medicine on the advice of the doctor.

Therefore, I statement is the cause while II statement is the effect.

Example2:

I.      The Central Government has recently declared to finish the rebate on farming.

II.     The Central Government faces the financial loss on account of giving the rebate on farming for the last few years.

Explanation:

As the Central Government faced the financial loss on accounts of giving the rebate on farming for the last few years, therefore, they declared to finish the rebate of farming.

Hence statement II is the cause while statement I is the effect.

      SOME MORE EXAMPLES

Below in each question, two statements (A) and (B) are given. These statements may be either independent causes or may be effects of independent causes or a common cause. One of these statements may be the effect of the other. Read both the statements and decide which of the following answer choices correctly depicts the relationship between these two statements.

Give answer:

(1)    if statement (A) is the cause and statement (B) is its effect.

(2)    if statement (B) is the cause and statement (A) is its effect.

(3)    if both the statements (A) and (B) are independent causes.

(4)    if both the statements (A) and (B) are effects of independent causes.

(5)    if both the statements (A) and (B) are effects of some common causes.

Example3:     

(A)   The majority of the citizens in the locality belong to higher income group.

(B)   The sales in the local super market are comparatively much higher than in other localities.

Answer: (1)

Explanation:

The sales in the local super market are comparatively higher because majority of the citizens in that locality belong to higher income group so they can spend more. So, statement (A) is cause while statement (B) is its effect.

Example4:

 (A)  If you are a habitual traffic rule breaker this won’t come as good news to you.

(B)   The traffic department has enhanced the number of red lights manned by the police.

Answer: (4)

Explanation:

(B) is an effect but (A) is the independent cause because manned red lights were increased due to some other reason.

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