learningwordsthatshowcause

The words we are looking at today are: cause, reason, factor, culprit, arise, and attribute. They are extremely important in TOEFL exams, especially in speaking and writing sections. That's why in today's lesson, we are going to show you how to use them properly in English. In addition, we will show you useful patterns and expressions used with these words. So let's get started.

A cause is something that leads to something else, the thing it leads to is called effect. That's why you're likely to hear the phrase "cause and effect" when people are trying to analyze how things happen. The following patterns and expressions are commonly used with the noun "cause". Note that A is the cause. B is the result.

Here are example sentences:

As you can see from the examples, adjectives such as "primary, main, major, leading, underlying" are often used with the noun 'cause'.

The meaning of underlying here refers to something beneath something else. But the word carries a more subtle meaning. We use the word 'underlying' to describe something hidden but still important, something that is the basic or root cause of something. Therefore, when we say "A is an underlying cause of B", it means A is the root cause of B. For example,

The word cause can also be a verb. The verb "to cause" means "to produce an effect", like when you slice onions and it causes your eyes to water. The past tense of "cause" is "caused", as used in the sentence "What caused you to lose your job?" In this sentence, someone wants to know the reason the other person lost their job (which is the effect.)

The patterns often used with the verb "cause" are the following.

Here are examples for each of the patterns:

Another word we can use to introduce "cause" is the noun "reason".

The following patterns and expressions are commonly used with the noun 'reason'.

Let's look at the following examples:

The adjectives "primary" and "main" are often used with the word "reason". Using this, you can change the last sentence like this:

Okay! The next word is 'factor'. A factor is a part or an element that contributes to a result. For example,there are many factors that contribute to global warming. Normally when you are making a decision, you think about many different factors. For example, if you are making a decision on where to go to university, money, distance and quality will all be factors in your decision. Notice the preposition 'in' is used after the word "factor".

The word "factor" can also be used as a verb. To factor in means to consider something relevant when making a decision or conclusion. For example, we need to factor in the weather and traffic when figuring out how long the drive will be.

Now! Let's see three common patterns and expressions used with the word 'factor'. Note that A is the cause. B is the result.

Let's look at some example sentences.

Note that we often use adjectives such as: key, critical, contributing, and crucial with the noun 'factor'.

If you don't want to use 'factor in' in any of above sentences, you can use 'factor that contributes to something' instead. Take this sentence for example.

Okay! Next! When you want to talk about something that causes something bad to happen, we often use the word "culprit" instead of "cause".

For example.

Another word you can use to introduce the cause of something is the verb "arise", which means to get up or come up. It is followed by the preposition "from" to say that something comes up from a certain cause

Take a look at the following examples

OK! let's look at our final word: Attribute. A is attributed to B means A is the result of B and B is the cause of A.

The examples below demonstrate how to use attribute: