What is cause and effect in storytelling?

Part ofLanguage and LiteracyPractise and revise KS2 English

What is cause and effect?

This page has been put together to help you practise and revisit some of the brilliant skills you’ve learned all through primary school.

It’s a great way to boost your confidence in English and get you ready for the exciting next step into Year 8!

Cause and effect describes the relationship between events.

The cause is why something happens.
The effect is what happens as a result.

Understanding this helps us make sense of stories and real-life situations.

Dive into this page and walk away ready to:

  • identify ‘cause-and-effect’ relationships in texts

  • explain how events are connected

  • explore how one cause can lead to multiple effects

Back to top

What is the impact of cause and effect?

Photograph of someone's feet. They are wearing blue trainers with white laces. One of the laces is untied. The image is to demonstrate cause and effect which is useful for pupils studying cause and effect for the SEAG transfer test

Cause and effect is when one event happens (cause) which makes another event occur (effect).

Cause and effect are linked and it is the cause which will come before the effect.

A single cause can have multiple effects. For example:

Mark’s shoelaces are undone, and he tripped and fell.

The cause is Mark’s undone shoelaces which has the effect of tripping and falling .

Photograph of someone's feet. They are wearing blue trainers with white laces. One of the laces is untied. The image is to demonstrate cause and effect which is useful for pupils studying cause and effect for the SEAG transfer test
Back to top

Test your knowledge!

Match these causes to their effects:

Causes

  1. You break your arm jumping on a trampoline.

  2. The electricity goes out during a storm.

  3. The table has a wobbly leg.

Effects

The table leg falls off causing dinner to go everywhere.

You visit A&E and wait for an x-ray.

Your family plays board games by candlelight.

A boy wearing a yellow jumper and blue jeans jumping on a trampoline in a garden on a sunny day.
Back to top

Activity: Write possible causes and effects

For each of these sentences write a potential cause and effect:

  1. The dog ran into the ditch.

  2. George forgot his guitar for his music lesson.

  3. Erin left her school uniform on her bedroom floor.

Back to top

Quiz: Identifying causes and effects

Back to top

Inference and reasoning challenge

Sometimes the cause or effect is not stated directly.

You will need to infer it (make an educated guess) using clues from the text.

Predict the effect

What might happen next?

1. The playground was icy after the frost.

2. The scientist forgot to wear safety goggles.

Predict the cause

What might have caused this?

1. The classroom was silent when the teacher entered.

2. The football match was cancelled.

Can you justify your answers using evidence and reasoning?

Back to top

Top tip

A top tip for studying cause and effect for the SEAG transfer test

When answering cause and effect questions, look for linking words such as because, so, therefore, as a result and think carefully about events that happen before and after.

A top tip for studying cause and effect for the SEAG transfer test
Back to top

Quiz time!

Back to top

Brain boost

Think about these questions to stretch your thinking and sharpen your skills!

  • Why is it important to understand cause and effect in everyday life? Can you give an example from your own experience?

  • How can knowing the cause of a problem help you find a solution?

  • Can you think of a story or film where one small cause led to a big effect? Share what happened.

Have a chat about your answers with a parent, teacher or your class.

Back to top

More on Practise and revise KS2 English

Find out more by working through a topic