Cause and Effect
About 7 min · Reasoning Ability · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 544 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
Cause and Effect reasoning tests your ability to identify logical relationships between events. In these questions, you are given two statements and must determine whether one event causes the other, both are independent, or both result from a common cause.
Key ideas
- Cause: An event or action that directly produces or leads to another event. The cause always precedes the effect in time.
- Effect: The outcome or result that occurs because of the cause. It cannot happen before its cause.
- Independent Events: Two events that have no logical connection — neither causes the other, and they do not share a common cause.
- Common Cause: When two events both result from a third, underlying event. Neither is the cause of the other; both are effects of something else.
- Immediate vs Remote Cause: An immediate cause directly produces the effect. A remote cause is part of a chain but not the direct trigger.
Watch out for
- Assuming sequence equals causation: Just because Statement I is written first does not make it the cause. Always check logical connection, not just order of presentation. Fix: Ask "Does I actually produce II?" not "Which came first in the question?"
- Ignoring common cause possibility: Two effects of the same underlying event (like rain causing both flooding and school closure) may appear connected but neither causes the other. Fix: Look for a hidden third event that explains both statements.
- Confusing correlation with causation: Two events happening together (e.g., ice cream sales and drowning deaths both rise in summer) does not mean one causes the other. Fix: Demand a logical mechanism — how exactly would I produce II?
Quick reference
- Cause always precedes effect — never the reverse.
- Sequence alone does not prove causation — demand a logical link.
- Common cause = both statements are effects of a third event.
- Independent events = no connection, no shared origin.
- Use the reversibility test: if swapping makes no sense, you have found the correct order.
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. Statement I: The government has announced free electricity up to 300 units for domestic consumers. Statement II: There has been a significant increase in the demand for air conditioners in the market. What is the relationship between these two statements?
2. Statement I: The district administration has imposed a ban on the sale of firecrackers during the festival season. Statement II: The air quality index in the district reached hazardous levels last year during the festival. What is the relationship between these two statements?
3. Statement I: Several factories in the industrial area have shut down their operations. Statement II: The unemployment rate in the region has increased substantially. Which of the following correctly describes the relationship?
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 18 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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