What is the purpose of identifying cause-and-effect relationships in a text?

To understand the events that are happening and why they are happening.

Explain the difference between a cause and an effect.

A cause is why something happens, and it occurs first. An effect is what happens as a result of the cause, and it occurs after the cause.

Cause: It was snowing. Effect: The school bus was late.

Because the team didn't practice enough, they lost the game.

I can identify cause-and-effect relationships in a text and explain how they contribute to the author's message.

1
A cause happens first and tells us why something happens, while an effect happens after the cause and tells us what happened.
2
To identify the cause, ask yourself, 'Why did this happen?', and the answer will be the cause.
3
Signal words like 'so', 'due to', 'because', and 'if' can help you spot cause and effect relationships in sentences.