Cause and Effect in English

Cause and Effect in English

Hi everyone! I am Georgiana, founder of speakenglishpodcast.com. My mission is to help you speak English fluently.

• In today’s lesson, you’ll learn about the words and expressions used to show cause and effect. For example, “Because of the course, I can now speak English.”

• And with a point of view story you’ll intuitively learn grammar - without memorizing.

Remember that you can get the text of this episode at SpeakEnglishPodcast.com.

Okay, let’s get to it!

Phrase connectors improve writing adding variety and sophistication to your writing style.

Today we are going to see some very useful words and phrases to express cause and effect.

You don’t have to learn all of these variations, although it’s helpful to be familiar with them.

I’ll also give you examples to make it easier to understand.

WORDS AND PHRASES THAT EXPRESS A CAUSE:

1) As

Examples:

“I can’t go to the market as it’s raining.” “I can’t eat as I’m too sick.”

2) Because

Examples:

“I missed him because I loved him.”

“I fell because I was careless.”

3) Because of / Thanks to

Imagine the cause is negative.

Example:

“The outdoor furniture got wet because of the rain.” As you can see, here we are emphasizing that rain is bad for outdoor furniture.

More examples:

“I was late because of traffic.”

“I’m fat because of overeating.”

On the other hand, if the cause is positive; you can use the expression “thanks to.”

Let’s compare thanks to with because of:

“I arrived on time thanks to my friend.” “I’m nervous because of drinking too much coffee.” 4) Due to

Examples:

“Due to the rain, the ground is wet.”

“Due to the drop in sales, the company closed.” “Due to the traffic, I was late for work.” 5) For

Examples:

“Jim must be shy for he didn’t go to the party.” “Let’s call it a day - for I’m exhausted.” 6) In view of

Examples:

“In view of the drop in sales, the company closed.” “In view of this challenge, we have to work harder.” 7) Since

Examples:

“You have to go home and study since you have a test tomorrow.” “ I need to hurry up since she’s waiting for me.” All right, so far we’ve seen some expressions used to indicate a cause.

PHRASES THAT EXPRESS THE EFFECT

1) As a result

Examples:

“James had an accident. As a result, he couldn’t walk for three months. “ “There was a drop in sales. As a result, the company closed.” 2) So

Examples:

“Bill cares about you, so he’ll do anything to help you.” “I forgot about his birthday, so I get that he’s angry with me.” 3) Therefore

Examples:

“He was busy last evening. Therefore, he couldn’t come to the party.” “I’ll be working all night. Therefore, we won’t have breakfast together.” 4) Consequently/ As a consequence

Examples:

“He didn’t study enough. Consequently, he failed the exam.” “She didn’t follow her mother’s advice. As a consequence, she got in trouble.”

Point of View Story

(Improve your Grammar)

All right, now let’s practice some grammar. Don’t worry; you don’t have to memorize anything. Just listen.

I’ll tell you the same story three times. Each time there will be a change from a grammatical point of view. In this way, you can learn grammar intuitively, paying attention to the changes.

Best of all, just listen carefully:

The first version, is in the present tense, in the first person.

Yes, that’s right. I speak 23 languages, and as a result, people are impressed. My secret? Having traveled a lot, I’ve been able to learn all those languages. My parents are diplomats, and thanks to their profession I’ve been able to visit many different countries. As I am an extroverted person, in each country, I’ve learned the local language so that I can interact and have friends. And although I consider myself a lucky person because of this lifestyle, I no longer know where I belong. When asked which country I identify with the most, I always say that I feel like a citizen of the world. And as a consequence of this short story, I hope to inspire you to learn English. You know, you just have to use the right material and techniques.

A second version, in the past tense, in the third person.

Yes, it’s true. He spoke twenty-three languages, and as a result, people were impressed. His secret? Having traveled a lot, he was able to learn all those languages. His parents were diplomats, and thanks to their profession he was able to visit many different countries. As he was an extroverted person, he learned the local language in each country so that he could interact and have friends. And although he considered himself a lucky person because of that lifestyle, he no longer knew what his homeland was. When asked which country he identified himself most, he always said he felt like a citizen of the world. And as a consequence of this short story, he hoped to inspire you to learn English. You know, you just have to use the right material and techniques.

And the third version of this story is in the future tense.

In the future, I’ll speak 23 languages, and as a result, people will be impressed. What will be my secret? I’ll travel a lot. That’s why I’ll know all those languages. My parents will be diplomats, and thanks to their profession I’ll be able to visit many different countries. As I’ll be an extroverted person, in each country, I will learn the local language so that I can interact and have friends.

And although I’ll consider myself a lucky person because of this lifestyle, I’ll no longer know where I belong. When I’ll be asked which country I identify with the most, I’ll say that I feel like a citizen of the world. And as a consequence of this short story, I’ll hope to inspire you to learn English. You know, you just have to use the right material and techniques.

Fantastic! This is the end of this short exercise. As you can see, it’s very effective.

For example, the first time you’ve listened the story in the present tense and in the first person.

1) “I speak 23 languages, and as a result, people are impressed.” The second time you listened to the same story in the past tense and in the third person.

2) “He spoke twenty-three languages, and as a result, people were impressed.”

And the third time you listened to the story it was in the first person and in the future tense:

3) “In the future, I’ll speak 23 languages, and as a result, people will be impressed.”

As you can see, it’s an easy and intuitive way to learn how grammar changes.

This is one of the techniques you can find in my courses at courses.SpeakEnglishPodcast.com.

Well, that’s it for today!

Please help me spread the word about the podcast. Tell your friends about the show and leave some comments on iTunes when you have some minutes. That would make me very happy!

See you soon!

Bye! Bye!