Question

Direction: For each of the ff sentences, determine whether that cause and effect relationship is valid or simply a case of correlation:

As ice cream sales go up, the rate of drowning deaths increases.

Lorena spent five minutes studying for her final exam, and she failed it.

As the number of pirrates attacks off the coast of Somalia has increased, the earth’s temperature has been warming.

Miguel ignored the dead and rotting tree in his backyard because he didn’t want to pay someone to cut it down. During a windstorm, the tree fell over and smashed the roof of his neighbor’s house.

As people become older, their political beliefs often become more conservative.

Diana was too tired to stop for gas when she noticed the needle close to “empty”. The next day, the car would not start.

Answer 1

In cause and effect relationship, one event causes another event.

The statement “As ice cream sales go up, the rate of drowning deaths increases,” does not represents cause and effect relationship as ice cream sales have nothing to do with drowning deaths.

The statement “Lorena spent five minutes studying for her final exam, and she failed it,” represents cause and effect relationship as the time spent on studying has impact on the chances of passing an exam. The more time one spends on studying, the more is the chance of passing, and the less time one spends on studying the less is the chance of passing.

The statement “As the number of pirates attacks off the coast of Somalia has increased, the earth’s temperature has been warming,” does not represents cause and effect relationship. This is because global warming is caused by pollution and environmental damage. Piracy is a security risk not environment risk.

The statement “Miguel ignored the dead and rotting tree in his backyard because he didn’t want to pay someone to cut it down. During a windstorm, the tree fell over and smashed the roof of his neighbor’s house,” represents cause and effect relationship. This is because, the failure of Miguel to cut the rotting tree on time caused it to finally fall on the house of Miguel’s neighbor.

The statement “As people become older, their political beliefs often become more conservative,” does not represents cause and effect relationship as age of people has nothing to do with their political beliefs.

The statement “Diana was too tired to stop for gas when she noticed the needle close to “empty”. The next day, the car would not start,” represents cause and effect relationship as failure of Diana to fill her car’s tank resulted in the ignition of the car not working on the next day.