Determining the relationship between a series of events
Text Version

Excerpt: Woodrow Wilson became president of the United States in 1913. The population was 100 million and life expectancy was 52 for men and 56.8 for women. Ninety-five percent of births took place at home. The women’s suffrage movement was taking to the streets demanding the right to vote. The Ford Motor Company began producing affordable automobiles and sold 248,000 cars that year. More Americans could afford to purchase a family car. This caused Americans to take to the roads, unconcerned about international events. Therefore, most people in 1914, were surprised by the swift chain of events that lead to war in Europe.

President Wilson did not think it was in America’s interest to become involved in the European war. He was concerned about

Americans taking sides in the conflict because of their national heritage. Over nine million immigrants had come to the United States in the past decade. For this reason, he urged Americans to remain neutral and not to inflame passions in support of one side or the other.

Review the passage again.

Which events caused later events to occur?

(Visual description: on-screen text saying “Which events caused later events to occur?”)

Affordable cars allowed people to travel more. Notice the signal words “This caused” used in the paragraph.

(Visual description: on-screen text saying “Woodrow Wilson became President of the United States in 1913. The population was 100 million and life expectancy was 52 for men and 56.8 for women. Ninety-five percent of births took place at home. The women’s suffrage movement was taking to the streets demanding the right to vote. The Ford Motor Company began producing affordable automobiles and sold 248,000 cars that year.

More Americans could afford to purchase a family car.  This caused Americans to take to the roads, unconcerned about international events. Therefore, most people in 1914, were surprised by the swift chain of events that lead to war in Europe.

President Wilson did not think it was in America’s interest to become involved in the European War. He was concerned about

Americans taking sides in the conflict because of their national heritage. Over nine million immigrants had come to the United States in the past decade. For this reason, he urged Americans to remain neutral and not to inflame passions in support of one side or the other.”

The phrases “more Americans could afford to purchase a family car” and “this caused” are highlighted.)

People were unconcerned about international events and were surprised about the start of World War l. Notice the signal word “Therefore” used in the paragraph.

President Wilson worried that if people took sides, conflicts in the United States might occur.  For this reason, he urged Americans to remain neutral. This signals a cause and effect relationship.

We can conclude that this passage reflects a cause and effect relationship between events.

(Visual description: on-screen text saying “Woodrow Wilson became President of the United States in 1913. The population was 100 million and life expectancy was 52 for men and 56.8 for women. Ninety-five percent of births took place at home. The women’s suffrage movement was taking to the streets demanding the right to vote. The Ford Motor Company began producing affordable automobiles and sold 248,000 cars that year. This caused Americans to take to the roads, unconcerned about international events. Therefore, most people in 1914, were surprised by the swift chain of events that lead to war in Europe.

President Wilson did not think it was in America’s interest to become involved in the European War. He was concerned about Americans taking sides in the conflict because of their national heritage. Over nine million immigrants had come to the United States in the past decade. For this reason, he urged Americans to remain neutral and not to inflame passions in support of one side or the other.”

The phrases “this caused Americans to take to the roads, unconcerned about the international events,” “therefore,” “He was concerned about Americans taking sides in the conflict because of their national heritage,” “for this reason,” and “he urged Americans to remain neutral and not to inflame passions in support of one side or the other” are highlighted.)