What happened?
The dog got out of the yard.
The North and the South fought against each other in the Civil War.
The students quietly left the building.
Chris got an A on his test.
Steve pushed all of the covers off the bed.
All of the sentences above tell about events that happened. These are all effects. An effect tells what happened.
Circle the sentence in each pair that would have happened first.
1. The fence was left open. The dog got out of the yard.
2. The North and the South fought against each other in the Civil War. The North and South disagreed about slavery.
3. The fire alarm sounded. The students quietly left the building.
4. Chris got an A on his test. Chris studied every night for a week.
5. Steve pushed all of the covers off the bed. It got very hot and stuffy in Steve’s bedroom.
Now go back and look at the sentences that you circled. You circled the event that actually happened first. You circled the cause. The cause is the reason that something happened.
Read each sentence. Make up an effect of each sentence. Write the effect in a good sentence.
For example: The glass fell off the table. My mother had to sweep the floor.
1. The tornado ripped through the town. _________________________________________________________
2. The United States won the war. _____________________________________________________________
3. The bread stayed out on the counter for two weeks._____________________________________________
4. The principal called my mother. ____________________________________________________________
5. Room 56 won Field Day. __________________________________________________________________
6. The pail of water was left out in the sun for three weeks. ________________________________________
7. I ate junk food all afternoon. _______________________________________________________________
8. I was out of the room when the teacher gave directions. __________________________________________
9. Seven inches of snow fell during the night. ____________________________________________________
10. The family lost all of its money. ____________________________________________________________
Now go back and read all of your answers. Each answer that you wrote is the effect.
Check your work carefully.
erg ‘98