Social Science Passages · Lesson 3

Cause, effect, and comparison

Many social science passages explain a change: why a town built something, why a habit spread, why an institution switched methods. The questions then ask about causes and effects (According to the passage, what led to) and comparisons (Unlike X, Y).

For cause and effect, find the linking language: because, so, as a result, led to, turned into. Then check the order of events. A cause comes before its effect, and passages often give dates or phrases such as only after and came first so that you can check.

For a comparison, keep a quick two-column note as you read, one column for each side, with a row for each factor (here: distance, population, and type of crossing). Most comparison questions are answered by reading straight across one row.

Two Islands, Two Crossings

This passage is from an essay about how two small islands came to be linked to the mainland in different ways.

1For most of the twentieth century, residents of two small islands off the same stretch of coast reached the mainland the same way: by ferry. Today their situations could hardly be more different. Larch Island is joined to the mainland by a two-lane bridge, while Pell Island, only a few miles farther north, is still served by a ferry that runs six times a day. Local historians have spent years explaining why two such similar places ended up on different sides of this divide.

2The first difference is geography. The channel between Larch Island and the mainland is less than half a mile wide and fairly shallow, so a bridge there was a modest engineering project. Pell Island sits across nearly six miles of open water, where a bridge would have cost many times more. For Pell, the question of a bridge was settled almost before anyone asked it.

3The second difference was people. During the early 1960s, Larch Island’s population began to grow as families who worked on the mainland moved there for its lower housing prices. As commuters multiplied, the ferry became a daily problem: long lines of cars waited at the landing each morning, and on stormy days, when the ferry could not sail, some people missed work entirely. These delays, historians agree, turned a vague wish for a bridge into an organized campaign. Pell Island’s population, by contrast, stayed small and consisted mostly of fishing families and summer visitors, few of whom needed to cross every day.

4It would be easy to tell the story the other way around, as if the bridge had brought the people. The order of events does not support that version. The campaign for the bridge began only after the morning lines had grown long, and the bridge opened in 1974, more than a decade after the population began to climb. The bridge did speed the island’s growth once it opened, but it was the growth that came first.

5One change from the same period sometimes appears in popular accounts of the bridge. During the 1960s, the island’s small boatyard closed, and some writers have suggested that the loss of island jobs pushed residents toward the mainland and toward a bridge. Historians who have studied the town’s records, however, find no sign that the boatyard came up in any of the public meetings about the bridge, and they treat the two events as a coincidence of timing.

6Pell Island’s residents, for their part, seem content with their ferry. Many describe the crossing as part of what makes the island feel separate from the mainland.

Worked example Easy

Show the whole passage

Two Islands, Two Crossings

This passage is from an essay about how two small islands came to be linked to the mainland in different ways.

1For most of the twentieth century, residents of two small islands off the same stretch of coast reached the mainland the same way: by ferry. Today their situations could hardly be more different. Larch Island is joined to the mainland by a two-lane bridge, while Pell Island, only a few miles farther north, is still served by a ferry that runs six times a day. Local historians have spent years explaining why two such similar places ended up on different sides of this divide.

2The first difference is geography. The channel between Larch Island and the mainland is less than half a mile wide and fairly shallow, so a bridge there was a modest engineering project. Pell Island sits across nearly six miles of open water, where a bridge would have cost many times more. For Pell, the question of a bridge was settled almost before anyone asked it.

3The second difference was people. During the early 1960s, Larch Island’s population began to grow as families who worked on the mainland moved there for its lower housing prices. As commuters multiplied, the ferry became a daily problem: long lines of cars waited at the landing each morning, and on stormy days, when the ferry could not sail, some people missed work entirely. These delays, historians agree, turned a vague wish for a bridge into an organized campaign. Pell Island’s population, by contrast, stayed small and consisted mostly of fishing families and summer visitors, few of whom needed to cross every day.

4It would be easy to tell the story the other way around, as if the bridge had brought the people. The order of events does not support that version. The campaign for the bridge began only after the morning lines had grown long, and the bridge opened in 1974, more than a decade after the population began to climb. The bridge did speed the island’s growth once it opened, but it was the growth that came first.

5One change from the same period sometimes appears in popular accounts of the bridge. During the 1960s, the island’s small boatyard closed, and some writers have suggested that the loss of island jobs pushed residents toward the mainland and toward a bridge. Historians who have studied the town’s records, however, find no sign that the boatyard came up in any of the public meetings about the bridge, and they treat the two events as a coincidence of timing.

6Pell Island’s residents, for their part, seem content with their ferry. Many describe the crossing as part of what makes the island feel separate from the mainland.

According to paragraph 3, what turned Larch Island residents’ wish for a bridge into an organized campaign?

  1. Delays at the ferry, which made commuters wait or miss workAnswer
  2. The loss of jobs when the island’s boatyard closed
  3. Lower housing prices, which drew visitors to the island each summer
  4. Plans for a bridge to Pell Island, which residents wanted to match

How to solve it

  1. The stem names paragraph 3 and an effect (the campaign). Find the linking words: “These delays, historians agree, turned a vague wish for a bridge into an organized campaign.”
  2. Look back one sentence to see what “These delays” were: morning lines of cars and missed workdays.
  3. A names that cause. B is the coincidence from paragraph 5, and C and D are not in the causal chain.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Correct. Paragraph 3 reports that “long lines of cars waited at the landing each morning” and that some people “missed work entirely,” then says “These delays, historians agree, turned a vague wish for a bridge into an organized campaign.”
  • B. Incorrect. The boatyard appears in paragraph 5, where historians “treat the two events as a coincidence of timing.” It is not a cause.
  • C. Incorrect. Lower housing prices drew “families who worked on the mainland,” not summer visitors, and the prices did not start the campaign; the delays did.
  • D. Incorrect. The passage never mentions plans for a bridge to Pell Island. For Pell, “the question of a bridge was settled almost before anyone asked it.”

Worked example Medium

Show the whole passage

Two Islands, Two Crossings

This passage is from an essay about how two small islands came to be linked to the mainland in different ways.

1For most of the twentieth century, residents of two small islands off the same stretch of coast reached the mainland the same way: by ferry. Today their situations could hardly be more different. Larch Island is joined to the mainland by a two-lane bridge, while Pell Island, only a few miles farther north, is still served by a ferry that runs six times a day. Local historians have spent years explaining why two such similar places ended up on different sides of this divide.

2The first difference is geography. The channel between Larch Island and the mainland is less than half a mile wide and fairly shallow, so a bridge there was a modest engineering project. Pell Island sits across nearly six miles of open water, where a bridge would have cost many times more. For Pell, the question of a bridge was settled almost before anyone asked it.

3The second difference was people. During the early 1960s, Larch Island’s population began to grow as families who worked on the mainland moved there for its lower housing prices. As commuters multiplied, the ferry became a daily problem: long lines of cars waited at the landing each morning, and on stormy days, when the ferry could not sail, some people missed work entirely. These delays, historians agree, turned a vague wish for a bridge into an organized campaign. Pell Island’s population, by contrast, stayed small and consisted mostly of fishing families and summer visitors, few of whom needed to cross every day.

4It would be easy to tell the story the other way around, as if the bridge had brought the people. The order of events does not support that version. The campaign for the bridge began only after the morning lines had grown long, and the bridge opened in 1974, more than a decade after the population began to climb. The bridge did speed the island’s growth once it opened, but it was the growth that came first.

5One change from the same period sometimes appears in popular accounts of the bridge. During the 1960s, the island’s small boatyard closed, and some writers have suggested that the loss of island jobs pushed residents toward the mainland and toward a bridge. Historians who have studied the town’s records, however, find no sign that the boatyard came up in any of the public meetings about the bridge, and they treat the two events as a coincidence of timing.

6Pell Island’s residents, for their part, seem content with their ferry. Many describe the crossing as part of what makes the island feel separate from the mainland.

According to the passage, one difference between Larch Island and Pell Island is that Pell Island:

  1. has a larger population, made up mostly of families who work on the mainland.
  2. lies across a channel less than half a mile wide that was too deep for a bridge.
  3. sits across far more open water, so a bridge there would have cost much more.Answer
  4. once had a bridge campaign of its own, which its residents later voted to drop.

How to solve it

  1. Build the two-column note. Distance: Larch under half a mile, Pell nearly six miles. Population: Larch growing with commuters, Pell small. Type of crossing: bridge for Larch, ferry for Pell.
  2. Test each choice against the Pell column. A and B borrow facts from the Larch column, and D invents an event.
  3. C reads straight across the distance row.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. This reverses the comparison. Pell’s population “stayed small,” and the families who worked on the mainland moved to Larch Island.
  • B. Incorrect. The half-mile channel belongs to Larch Island, and it is “fairly shallow.” Pell sits across “nearly six miles of open water.”
  • C. Correct. Paragraph 2 says “Pell Island sits across nearly six miles of open water, where a bridge would have cost many times more.”
  • D. Incorrect. No campaign or vote on Pell is mentioned; there, “the question of a bridge was settled almost before anyone asked it.”

Trap Reversed arrows and lucky timing

Two mistakes cost points on cause questions. The first reverses the arrow. On Larch Island the growth came before the bridge, so a choice saying the bridge brought the newcomers has the order backward, even though the passage says the bridge later sped the growth up.

The second treats two events from the same years as cause and effect. The boatyard closed in the same decade as the bridge campaign, but historians call that a coincidence. Unless the passage links two events with causal language, happened at about the same time is all you can say.