Writing an Explanation: Cause and Effect, Sequence and Connectives — Answers
Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 8 informative writing worksheet.
Success TutoringWorksheetsAnswer sheetYear 8 · English · Informative WritingWriting an Explanation: Cause and Effect, Sequence and Connectives — Answers
Part A: How the explanation works
An explanation has: a title (often a how or why question), an opening statement, a sequence of steps linked by cause and effect, and a concluding statement.
- AIt defines the subject and says when it happens
- BIt gives the writer's opinion about rainbows
- CIt describes the final step
- DIt tells a story
Answer: It defines the subject and says when it happens
An explanation usually opens by stating what the phenomenon is, so the reader knows what is being explained.
- A(1) only
- B(2), (3) and (4)
- C(5) only
- D(1) and (5)
Answer: (2), (3) and (4)
The middle paragraphs give the sequence: light enters and bends, splits into bands, reflects, and leaves towards the viewer.
Answer: Each wavelength of light bends (refracts) by a slightly different amount, so the wavelengths separate into bands.
Answer: As a result; therefore.
Answer: Refraction is a technical term the explanation relies on. Defining it in plain words (bending) helps readers understand the steps that follow.
Answer: It sums up the big idea behind the process: that sunlight contains a hidden spectrum, revealed when water and light meet at the right angle. It does not add a new step.
Part B: Connectives
Fill each gap with a connective that does the job in parentheses. Use: because, Therefore, Then, As, Finally.
Answer: Therefore
Therefore, As a result, Consequently and So all show a result.
Answer: because
Because and since both give a reason.
Answer: Then
Then, Next and After this all show the next step.
Answer: As
As and When both show that two things happen together.
Answer: Finally
Finally, Eventually and In the end all signal the last step.
Part C: From flow chart to paragraph
Answer: Model: When heavy rain falls for several days, the soil eventually becomes so full that it cannot soak up any more water. As a result, the extra water runs across the ground and into rivers. Because the rivers receive more water than they can carry, they rise above their banks. Consequently, the land nearby is flooded.
Answer: A time connective shows when something happens or the order of steps (first, then, after that). A cause-and-effect connective shows why something happens or what results from it (because, as a result, therefore).
Part D: Your turn
Model answer: Why Do We Have Day and Night? — Day and night are the regular changes from light to darkness that happen everywhere on Earth. They are caused by the way Earth spins. Earth rotates on its axis, an imaginary line running from the North Pole to the South Pole. It completes one full turn about every 24 hours. Because the sun can only light up one half of Earth at a time, the side facing the sun has daytime. Meanwhile, the side facing away is in shadow, so it has night. As Earth keeps turning, places move gradually from the dark side into the sunlight. As a result, people see the sun appear to rise in the east in the morning. Later, as their part of Earth turns away again, the sun appears to set in the west and night begins. Therefore, the sun does not really move across the sky at all. Day and night are simply the result of our planet turning, again and again, in the light of the sun.
Success criteria:
- Title and opening statement that defines the subject
- At least three steps in a logical sequence
- Causes and effects are explained, not just listed
- At least four time or cause-and-effect connectives, underlined
- Concluding statement sums up the process
- Present tense, third person and accurate information
Marking tips
- Give credit for correct method even when the final answer slips — the working shows where the thinking went right.
- For open-ended tasks, use the success criteria as a checklist rather than looking for one "right" answer.
- Celebrate what went well first, then pick one thing to work on next.