Which nonfiction text structure is used to show how one event leads to another?

• A. Chronological order
• B. Description
• C. Cause & effect
• D. Problems/solutions

Answer: (C)

Cause and effect focuses on how one event leads to another. In nonfiction, this structure helps you see why something happened and what happened as a result, often using signal words like because, therefore, as a result, or due to. When a passage links Event A to Event B and then to Event C, it’s showing a chain of causes and effects. That’s exactly what the prompt asks for: a structure that shows how one event leads to another. Other structures describe sequences in time (chronological order), describe features or characteristics (description), or present a problem followed by a solution (problems/solutions), but they don’t specifically map the cause-to-effect relationship the way the cause-and-effect structure does.