Academic Vocabulary for Essays & IELTS Writing: 15 cause and effect POWER VERBS

Hey, everyone.

I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on cause and effect verbs.

So, this is an academic writing lesson.

In this lesson, you will learn some advanced vocabulary, specifically verbs, that you can

use in your high school or university essays; or if you are an English student who is taking

the IELTS or the TOEFL, you can use these verbs to really level up your writing in your

writing tasks on those tests.

Okay?

Now, if you are a writer of another sort; if you are an essayist, a fiction writer,

a non-fiction writer, or you want to be a writer in the future - it never hurts to have

more vocabulary, to have more power verbs in your arsenal.

So, what we're going to do today is improve your vocabulary for your writing and really

make your writing that much stronger.

So, I'm going to put this down, and let's start looking at some verbs.

Specifically, we are going to look at some effect verbs first.

So, when you think of "effect", you think of the result of something.

So, we have the verbs: "cause", "produce"; and we have verb phrases, like: "lead to",

"result in"; and we have: "create", "bring about", "give rise to", and "be responsible for".

So, these are all formal verbs, and these will definitely formalize your writing; specifically

your essays.

So, for example: "cause" - very direct.

Right?

So: "The 2008 financial crisis caused several problems for multinational banks."

So, this crisis caused these things to happen.

All right?

Let's continue with: "produce". Okay?

So, to produce, create, cause.

"The medication did not produce the desired effect."

So, the medication was supposed to numb the pain, but it didn't do this.

It didn't produce the desired effect.

So, again, "to produce", think of it in the same family of words as: "cause", "produce",

and "create", which we'll see a little bit later on.

Next we have: "lead to".

So, if something leads to something else, this means that it causes the next step to happen.

So, the next step is the effect.

So, for example: "Several international incidents led to World War II."

So, we're talking about international events, international incidents that led to - gave

the cause for World War II.

So, if something leads to something else, you know, you do this thing which causes this

thing, so the effect is here.

One thing leads to or causes another thing.

"Result in" - very straightforward, I think.

So, "result in": "The earthquake resulted in thousands of deaths."

The effect of the earthquake; the result of the earthquake.

So: "The earthquake resulted in thousands of deaths."

Later we'll look at "a result of", so that will be for cause; but for effect, you can

say: "result in".

What was the result?

It resulted in blank; in something.

"Create".

I think everyone is familiar with the verb "create".

If you're not, here we go.

"The increasing rate of crime is creating numerous issues", numerous problems.

So, it's making problems, creating problems, causing problems.

So, the effect is that there are numerous problems now because of this.

"Bring about".

So, if something brings about something else, it kind of brings it-right?-into effect.

So: "The new regime"-the new political party, the new political regime-"brought about stricter

laws".

So, imagine there was an election and there is a new political regime, and with them they

are bringing new laws, so they brought about new laws; they caused new laws to happen.

The effect of the political regime are these stricter laws.

Okay?

Next: "give rise to".

If something gives rise to something else, it means that the initial cause creates the

conditions necessary for the effect to happen.

Okay?

Got that?

Okay, let's look at the example.

So: "The election result gave rise to public protests."

So, we have the election result, and: Uh-oh, now the condition is instability in the public

because maybe the public is not happy with the results of the election.

So, it creates the necessary conditions for the public protests.

So, the election gave rise to; allowed the political protests to happen, the public protests

to happen.

Okay?

And: "be responsible for".

I think this one is self-explanatory, so, here we go: "No one knows who was responsible

for the vandalism."

So, no one knows who did the vandalism; the, basically graffiti, maybe around the bank

or some kind of public place. Okay?

So: Who was responsible for?

You can talk about, you know, these effects and these effect verbs in a variety of contexts.

So, here you have stuff like World War II, the economic crisis, rising rates of crime,

vandalism, public protests, elections.

So, these are probably the types of topics you will see if you are writing a high school

essay, or if you're writing a university essay.

Even if you're not, somewhere in your essay you're probably going to talk about something

that caused something else, or you're going to talk about the effect of one action and

what the reaction of that was.

So, these verbs will help you to talk about that reaction.

Okay?

So, now, let's look at some other verbs that you can use to talk about the causes of things.

All right?

So, I'm going to walk to the other board.

Follow me.

Okay, so here we go with the cause verbs.

Now, if you notice, some of these are similar to the effect verbs, but they are the effect

verbs in their passive forms.

So, let's look at what I mean.

Here we have: "be caused by", "be produced by", "be brought about by".

Okay?

So, we've seen these in the effect verbs board before this, and now we're going to use them

to talk about cause.

So, "be caused by", for example: "The government collapse was caused by the implementation

of unpopular policies."

So, you want to say that the unpopular policies caused the government collapse, or you can

say: "The government collapse was caused by the implementation of unpopular policies."

Okay?

So, you can say this in two ways; you can say it in the effect way where you really

emphasize the effect, so the government collapse is the effect, and the cause of the collapse

is that they implemented unpopular policies.

So, if you want to emphasize the government collapse, like here, put it first, use the

passive form, use the cause: "was caused by"; if you want to emphasize the implementation

of unpopular policies caused the government collapse, you can put that first.

So, it really depends what you want to stress in your sentence.

Okay?

All right, next: "be produced by".

So: "The vast majority of air pollution in Europe is produced by fertilizers and animal

waste."

So, is caused by, is produced by fertilizers and animal waste.

So, again: "The fertilizers and animal waste produce the vast majority of air pollution

in Europe."

Here, we just flipped it to focus on the cause, so: "The vast majority of air pollution in

Europe is produced by fertilizers and animal waste."

This is the cause, and the effect is the air pollution, basically.

Air pollution is the effect of fertilizers and animal waste.

Next, we have: "be brought about by".

So, you saw "bring about"; now it's: "to be brought about by", the passive form.

"Major economic benefits could be brought about by the adoption of solar roofs."

Okay?

So, the argument is if you have a solar roof, within a few years, you're going to be saving

thousands of dollars.

So, here: "Major economic benefits could be brought about by".

Basically, if we have solar roofs, the solar roofs will bring economic benefits.

Okay?

They will bring about economic benefits with them.

Next: "result from", not "result in".

So: "Many benefits quickly result from exercise."

So, if you exercise, this is the cause; the effect is, well, many benefits, really - better

health, better energy, and longer life.

Ideally longer life, unless there's an accident, obviously.

So, next we have: "stem from".

And these two - if your teacher or your evaluator sees you using either of these two: "stem

from", "be triggered by", they will love you.

Okay?

So, memorize these two especially, because they are quite advanced and they're lovely.

They sound wonderful when they're in an essay format.

So: "stem".

What is a "stem"?

Think of a flower, so you have the stem of the flower, and on the top you have the petals,

you have the flower itself.

Right?

So, the stem leads to the flower.

So, if something stems from something, like, for example, here: "Most of our early beliefs

stem from our parents"...

So think of, like, your beliefs are the flower on the top-right?-and what causes that flower?

Before you have the flower, the stem has to grow.

So, your beliefs are here, and they stem from your parents; your parents are basically causing

your beliefs when you're a child.

Right?

So, when you're a kid, who gives you your beliefs, who tells you what to believe?

Usually it's your parents guiding you in your belief system.

So, if something stems from something else, it is caused by something.

All right?

And, finally: "be trigged by".

So, if something triggers something else, it literally means it causes it to happen.

Okay?

So: "World War I" - this could be any high school essay.

"World War I was triggered by", it's like...

This is, like, the root cause.

Okay?

This was, like, the cause.

"World War I was triggered by the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand."

Now, if you're a history major and you're thinking: "No!

There were many more things, and this wasn't it.

This was just one little thing", it's an example.

I'm really focusing on just the use of these verbs and verb phrases, so "was triggered

by".

So, think of a gun, and a gun has a trigger - when you pull the trigger, the bullet goes.

Okay?

So, what was the bullet that caused this thing?

Okay?

What caused the bullet to fly?

In this case, the bullet being...

The beginning of World War I is the bullet, the trigger is the assassination of Arch Duke

Ferdinand.

That pulled the trigger that allowed the bullet to fly towards the beginning of World War I.

So, we have: "be caused by", "be produced by", "be brought about by", "result from",

"stem from", "be triggered by", as well as the wealth of effect verbs on the previous board.

So, you guys have-I hope-a lot of new vocabulary that you have acquired here today.

And if you want to test your understanding of this to make sure you get that high IELTS

score, that high TOEFL score, you get that 90% on your essay - you can check out the

quiz on www.engvid.com.

And while you're there, why don't you check out some of my other videos?

I have a ton of videos on academic vocabulary or advanced vocabulary, I have some IELTS

and some TOEFL lessons as well.

And if you want to try something more fun, I also have: Learning English with Star Wars,

with Harry Potter, with The Hunger Games - a wide variety of things, and grammar stuff, too.

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and check out the rest of the stuff and let me know what you think.

Speaking of letting me know what you think, leave a comment, see if you can create original

sentences... Sentences.

I have a hard time with that word sometimes.

Sentences with the vocabulary you've learnt in this video. All right?

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