Level 3 — Intermediate · Cohesion & Reference in Writing
Task 24: Matching Causal Language to the Evidence
Write a cause-and-effect sentence with exactly the right strength of causal verb — caused, contributed to, or is associated with — matched to how much the evidence actually supports.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this task, you should be able to:
- Choose between caused, contributed to, and is associated with based on how strong the evidence actually is
- Avoid upgrading a correlation into a causal claim the evidence doesn't support
- Write a hedge (may have, partly) into a causal sentence when the evidence only partly supports it
Introduction
Lesson 24 taught you to read the exact strength of a causal claim — caused is stronger than contributed to, which is stronger than is associated with. Writing your own causal sentence means making that same choice yourself, honestly, based on what your evidence actually shows rather than what sounds more dramatic.
The Rule, for Writing
Core Concept
Match your verb to your evidence. If you only know two things happened together, write is associated with — never caused. If you know one thing was a factor among several, write contributed to. Reserve caused for when you genuinely know the mechanism, not just the pattern.
Example
Weak evidence (a pattern only): Higher humidity is associated with more equipment failures in the warehouse.
Stronger evidence (a known factor): Poor ventilation likely contributed to the recent equipment failures.
Strongest evidence (a confirmed mechanism): The power surge caused the system to shut down.
Your Turn
Your Turn
Here's a scenario: Sales at a shop dropped 15% the same month a competitor opened nearby. No other information is available. Write one sentence describing this relationship using the correctly hedged causal language for evidence this weak — do not write "caused."
Vocabulary in Context
contribute tophrasal verbformal
to act as one of several factors that help cause something (অবদান রাখা)
Often with contribute to a decline, contribute significantly, partly contribute to
“Understaffing contributed to the backlog, though it was not the only cause.”
associated withcollocationformal
occurring together in a pattern, without this alone proving one causes the other (সম্পর্কযুক্ত)
Often with be associated with, strongly associated with, risks associated with
“Late arrivals are associated with weekend shift changes.”
Model Answer
Show a model answer
The drop in sales is associated with the competitor's opening nearby, though with only one month of data and no other information, it's not possible to say the new competitor actually caused the decline.
Self-Check
Self-Check
- Did you avoid the word "caused" given how weak this evidence is?
- Does your sentence use "associated with" or a similarly hedged phrase instead?
- Did you name what's missing (more data, other explanations) rather than just stating the weaker claim?
Next: Writing 25 — Choosing What Comes First: rewriting one sentence twice, each time putting a different piece of information in the spotlight.