In identifying cause-and-effect relationships in a text, which feature is a strong indicator?

• A. A sequence showing one event leads to another, often with keywords like because, therefore, consequently.
• B. A description of characters' feelings.
• C. A list of unrelated facts.
• D. A purely descriptive scene without sequence.

Answer: (A)

Understanding cause-and-effect in a text means spotting how one event makes another happen. The clearest signal is a sequence that shows one event leading to another, especially when there are cue words like because, therefore, or consequently. These words link the reason to the result and make the relationship explicit—for example, “It rained because the clouds darkened” shows the rain as the effect of dark clouds. This linkage helps you see why something happened and what happened as a consequence. Other options don’t show a connected chain of events: describing feelings doesn’t establish a cause-and-effect link, a list of unrelated facts has no connection between items, and a purely descriptive scene without sequence misses the cause-and-effect relationship altogether.