Glossary
cause and effect
A cause-and-effect structure explains why something happened, linking an event to the conditions that produced it.
Cause and effect is a text structure that explains why something happened: one event or condition is presented as producing another. The signals are because, therefore, as a result, so that, due to, leads to, consequently, and a passage may run in either direction — cause first, then outcome, or the outcome announced and its causes unpacked. Two things separate this from plain sequence. First, sequence only orders events in time; cause and effect claims a link, and the two are worth telling apart because a question that asks why cannot be answered from a timeline. Second, a chain is not a single link: a careless answer will name a remote cause when the passage names an immediate one, or invert the pair and make the effect the cause. Check the direction of the arrow before choosing.
Taught in
Related terms
- text structure — Text structure is the outline a passage is built on — sequence, cause and effect, compare and contrast, or problem and solution — and naming it tells you where the claim sits.
- sequence — A sequence structure presents information in time order, using words like first, then, after and finally as its skeleton.
- problem and solution — A problem-and-solution structure states a problem and then presents one or more fixes, often weighing their limits.
- signal word — A signal word is a transition that tells the reader what the next sentence is doing — adding, contrasting, concluding or giving a cause.
Source: The reading-comprehension guide in this course: the three skills above are the ones that guide teaches, and every definition is written for this course in our own words, with no publisher's prose reproduced. Elsevier's own HESI A2 page, which names reading comprehension among the areas the exam covers, is the exam-side source. (Elsevier HESI A2 page accessed 2026-10-23; definitions written 2026-10-27)