Learn English: Cause & Effect – so, since, hence, due to, as a result...

Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I'm going to teach you some new

vocabulary. This vocabulary is very useful when we are giving explanations,

or when we are talking about "cause" and "effect". "Cause" and "effect" might be

new words for you. So, I'm going to teach you about those words, as well as

other words we use when we're talking about explanations, or cause and effect.

So, what is "cause"? What do I mean by "cause"? When we talk about "cause",

we're talking about why something happens. Okay? So, we're talking about a

situation, or an event, or a reason that leads to something. When we talk about

"effect", we're talking about the outcome or the what, the what happened.

So, for example, here are some examples of causes and their effects. Study.

Okay? So, "study" is the cause. "If you study hard", the effect is "you do

well". Okay? "You study hard" is the cause; the effect is "you do well". If

you drink a lot of tequila, what...? What happens? Well, maybe you get a

hangover. So, the cause is "drinking tequila", and the effect is "hangover".

This leads to this. Okay? What about if you forgot your boyfriend or

girlfriend's birthday, and you've been going out for eight years? What do you

think's going to happen? The effect of that might be a big fight or a big

argument. So, we have here the cause — "you forgot the birthday"; and we have

the effect — "a big fight". So, now let's look at some sentences where we

actually use "cause" and "effect" vocabulary.

Okay. So, the first word we're going to focus on when we're talking about

"cause" and "effect" is the word: "so". We use "so" a lot when we're talking

about "cause" and "effect". So, for example: "I drank tequila," — we already

talked about that — that's the cause, "so I have a hangover" — that's an

effect. The word "so" connects the "cause" with the "effect". You'll also

notice there's a comma here. Okay? So, it's comma: "so I have a hangover".

Let's look at another example. "John forgot his anniversary," — that's the

clause — "so his wife is angry" — that's the effect. And again, we use the word

"so" to connect the cause to the effect. And these explain something that's

happening. These are also explanations. Okay? So, when I'm talking about "cause"

and "effect", I'm also talking about explanation. "Explanations" answer the

question: Why? Why am I hungover? Because I drank tequila. Why is John's

wife angry? Because John forgot the anniversary. Okay? So, "so" is very

useful with this. Now, you're going to notice that when we use "so", the cause

is first and the effect is second.

Now, let's look at another word that we use when we're talking about "cause" and

"effect". That word is "Because". We use "Because" when we're talking about

"cause" and "effect". "Because I studied hard, I did well". So, the cause is: "I

studied hard" and the effect is: "I did well". When we use "because", we can

switch these — okay? — so, we can have the effect first and the cause second.

So, in this case, I can also say: "I did well" — which is the effect — "because I

studied hard", which is the cause. And we connect the cause and the effect

using the word "because". So, it's similar to "so", but in this case,

"because" allows us flexibility; we can start the sentence with "Because" —

"Because" and then we can have the cause. "Because I ate all the cake, I

have a stomach ache." Okay? That's... that rhymes. Or we can also have it

reversed. Okay. Let's look at another example. We can also say, for example:

"Because you forgot, I will tell you again." So, "you forgot" is the cause;

and the effect is: "I'm going to tell you again". We can switch these where

the effect comes first and the cause comes second. "I will tell you again,

because you forgot." So, the key here is the placement of "because". "Because"

comes first if the next... "Because" comes first if the cause is at the

beginning of the sentence, and effect is the second part of the sentence;

"because" comes in the middle if the effect is first. So, in this case, this

is the effect and this is the cause. Okay?

We can also use the word "Since". "Since" is like "Because". So, for

example, here, I can say: "Since I studied hard, I did well." I can also

say: "I did well, since I studied hard." So, we're using it the same way as

"because" and it also allows us to change the position of the cause and the

effect. "Since you forgot, I will tell you again", "I will tell you again,

since you forgot." So, the words we've learned so far are: "so", "because", and

"since". Let's look at some more formal words we use when we're talking about

cause and effect.

We also have more formal language we can use when talking about cause and effect.

So, when we're talking more formally, we might be doing this because we're in

college or university, and we're writing about cause and effect, maybe in an

essay; or maybe we're at work, and we're a professional, and we want to sound

more formal and professional. So, formal language is the type of language you use

with your bosses, with... you know, when you're in school; it's not the language

you use with your friends. Okay? So, let's look at some more formal language.

And again, formal language we often use with writing; less so with speaking. So,

we have here some vocabulary we use when we're talking about cause and effect:

"As a result", "As a consequence", "Due to". So, let's look at how these can

connect a cause to an effect. "As a result of oceans becoming warmer, coral

reefs are dying." So, what part is the cause? The cause is: "the oceans are

getting warmer". And what's the effect? "coral reefs are dying". So, just like

"Because", we can put: "As a result" at the beginning of the sentence, to say:

"As a result" — cause, effect — "As a result of the oceans getting warmer,

coral reefs are dying." Like "Because", we can also switch this around. "Coral

reefs are dying" — so this is the effect — "as a result" — so, this is our

"cause" and "effect" vocabulary — "of the oceans getting warmer". Okay? And

this is the cause. So, it's possible to use: "As a result", like you would

"Because".

It's the same with this word, or this phrase: "As a consequence". When we're

talking about consequences, consequences are usually negative things. So, we're

usually talking about a cause that leads to something negative; a negative

effect. So, we can change this and use: "As a consequence", if we want. "As a

consequence of oceans becoming warmer, coral reefs are dying." We can also use

the word: "Due to". "Due to oceans becoming warmer, coral reefs are dying."

So, these are interchangeable; meaning we can use these in the same way. And

now, just like: "as a result", we can also switch: "as a consequence" and "due

to". So, here we have: "Coral reefs are dying" — we can change this to — "as a

consequence of the oceans getting warmer.", "Coral reefs are dying due to

oceans getting warmer." So, my main point here is that we use these

expressions to link cause and effect, and there's different ways we can do

We also have some other words. These words are very formal — okay? — so we

don't use them in speaking a lot, but we have words like: "Thus", "Therefore",

"Hence". I would only use these words — especially "Thus" and "Hence" in writing

— if I'm writing something very academic, but I can use this when I'm

talking about cause and effect in writing. This is not an academic

example, but I'm using an academic word here. "I drank tequila." — period —

this.

"Thus, I was hungover." So, again, we have the cause, and we have the effect,

and it's connected with the word: "Thus". Although this time we're using

it in... to connect two different sentences. "I drank tequila. Therefore,

I was hungover.", "I drank tequila. Hence, I was hungover." Again, these

words you use in very academic, formal situations. Okay? You would not actually

use it with your friends, talking about drinking tequila, but you can see the

grammar of it and how we would use it in a sentence.

So, we've covered a lot of "cause" and "effect" vocabulary; we've covered:

"so", "because", "since", "As a result", "As a consequence", "Due to",

"Therefore", "Thus", and "Hence". So, these are a lot of words. And what I

recommend you do is come visit our website at www.engvid.com. And there,

you can actually do a quiz to practice these words that link "cause" and

"effect". And you can also practice identifying cause and effect, because

that's a very important skill, too. If you are writing the IELTS or the TOEFL —

we often use these words in essays, so that's very important. As well as anyone

going to university, or college, or high school, where they're going to have to

write essays in English — these words are very important there, too; and

professionally, so I highly recommend you take our quiz to practice more. I

also recommend you come visit... or you subscribe to my channel, where you'll

find a lot of different topics on grammar, writing, reading, vocabulary,

speaking, and many more. So, thank you for watching; and until next time, take

care.