Neutral
Opens the sentence with a comma. The effect follows; the cause is what you just wrote.
Linking language · Cause and effect
Cause and effect connectors in English
These connectors tell the reader that what comes next is the consequence of what came before. Use cause and effect when the second sentence would not be true without the first. This is the connector family that carries an argument forward: it is how a reason becomes a conclusion.
6 connectorseach with where it goes and how it is punctuated
2 worked examplesthe relationship, explained
2 common mistakeswith the repair
4 exercisesrelationship first, then the word
Start here · what these words actually do
A connector joins two sentences and names the relationship between them
That is the whole job. The words are not decoration and they are not interchangeable: each one makes a claim about how the second sentence relates to the first, and the reader will read it that way whether you meant it or not. Here is what this family claims.
First sentence
Online platforms carry no rent on a high street, so they can undercut physical shops.
As a result
Second sentence
Many high-street retailers have closed permanently.
The second sentence would not be true without the first. It is not another fact standing beside it — it is what the first one produced. A cause-and-effect connector tells the reader to read it that way.
When you need it
Use cause and effect when the second sentence would not be true without the first. This is the connector family that carries an argument forward: it is how a reason becomes a conclusion.
Now you try · the relationship first
Before the word, the direction
Choosing the connector is the second decision. The first one is noticing where the next sentence is going.
Step 1 · the relationship
Which sentence comes next — and why that one?
The sentence you have: The city removed general traffic from three central streets.
Three sentences could follow. Only one of them what comes next is the consequence of what came before. Choose it before you think about any connector.
The connectors
Where each one goes, and how it is punctuated
They do not all behave the same way. Two connectors can mean the same thing and still be written differently — that is where most linking errors come from.
Formal
Opens the sentence, or sits after the subject: “The council therefore reduced the budget.”
Formal
Opens the sentence. Interchangeable with “as a result” in almost every context.
Formal
Opens a clause and is often followed by a noun phrase rather than a full clause: “hence the delay”.
Formal
Followed by a noun, never a clause: “due to the delay”, not “due to it was delayed”.
Neutral
Opens the sentence. Useful when the effect needs spelling out rather than naming.
Watch one · then do three
See the relationship before you choose the word
The connector is not a decoration. It is a claim about how the two halves relate, and the reader will hold you to it.
Worked example · As a result
E-commerce platforms can undercut physical shops because they carry no rent on a high street.
As a result, many traditional high-street retailers have been forced to close permanently.
Why this one: The closures are the consequence of the price gap. “In addition” would list them as a separate fact and lose the causal link that the argument depends on.
Worked example · Due to
Noun, not clause.
Due to the shortage of qualified staff, waiting times doubled.
Why this one: “Due to” attaches to a noun phrase. If you want a clause, use “because”: “Because staff were in short supply, waiting times doubled.”
What goes wrong
The two mistakes this family produces
Due to the city invested in cycle lanes, journeys became safer.
“Due to” cannot take a clause. The word that can is “because”.
Repaired: Because the city invested in cycle lanes, journeys became safer.
The population is ageing. Therefore, some people think pensions should change.
“Therefore” claims a consequence, but what follows is an opinion someone holds, not a result of ageing. The logic does not survive the connector.
Repaired: The population is ageing. As a result, pension systems face a funding gap that did not exist a generation ago.
Step 2 · the word
Choose the connector the sentence actually needs
Now that you can see the direction, pick the word that announces it. The first wrong answer gives you a hint and a second attempt, and every wrong option explains what it would have signalled instead. Nothing here is scored.
Online retail platforms consistently undercut physical stores on price and convenience. _______, many traditional high-street retailers have been forced to permanently close their stores.
The city removed general traffic from three central streets. _______, pedestrian numbers rose and collisions at those junctions fell by half.
Waiting times doubled in the region’s hospitals last winter, _______ a shortage of qualified nursing staff rather than a rise in admissions.
The other families
Six more relationships to learn
Addition
The next idea goes the same way as the one before it.
6 connectors · 3 exercisesContrastThe next idea pushes against the one before it.
7 connectors · 3 exercisesExamplesWhat comes next is one case of the claim you just made.
6 connectors · 3 exercisesConcessionYou accept the other side has a point, and you are about to answer it.
6 connectors · 3 exercisesComparisonThe next case behaves like the one before it.
5 connectors · 3 exercisesConclusionThis is the end of the whole text, not of a paragraph.
5 connectors · 3 exercisesConditionThe second idea only happens if the first one is true.
6 connectors · 3 exercisesCorrelative pairsTwo elements are joined as a pair, and the sentence needs both halves.
5 connectors · 3 exercises