English · Suggested Class 7 · school sequences vary
“The bell rang, then the lights went out.” The order is clear. The cause is not. Good reading keeps “after” separate from “because”.
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A cause explains why an event happens; an effect is a result. Use textual evidence to distinguish an explicit reason, a plausible inference and an unsupported claim.
Original BananaLearn guide · 7 November 2026
On a narrow screen, swipe the diagram or open it full size.
At lunchtime, the gardening club found a puddle beside the classroom pots. Noor noticed that one watering-can lid was loose. Ravi remembered carrying the can across the room just before the puddle appeared. The group checked the pots: their trays were dry. They tightened the lid and carried the filled can over an empty tray. No water spilled during that test. They planned to check the lid again before the next club meeting.
This is a fictional investigation written for the lesson. It provides clues, not a record of a real school event. Keep the words that describe observations separate from your explanation of them.
A text can state a cause directly: “Because the lid was loose, water escaped.” That sentence is not in the passage. The passage instead gives observations from which a reader may infer a likely explanation.
Do not quote your inference as if it were a sentence in the source. Write “The clues suggest…” and name the clues that support it.
Ravi carried the can before the puddle appeared. This sequence supports investigating the can, but sequence alone does not prove it caused the puddle. Another event could have occurred in the same interval.
After, before and then establish time. Because, so and therefore assert a reason or result. Check whether the evidence supports moving from one kind of statement to the other.
On a narrow screen, swipe the diagram or open it full size.
The loose lid, the recent carrying and the lack of water in the pot trays all support a spill from the can as a plausible explanation. The later no-spill test is consistent with the repair helping.
The test does not recreate every earlier condition or prove what happened unseen. A cautious conclusion is stronger than an overconfident one because it fits what the passage actually establishes.
A puddle might have an immediate cause, such as escaping water, and contributing conditions, such as a loose lid or a tilted can. Explain the chain rather than treating every detail as an interchangeable cause.
The passage does not say that anyone was careless. A judgment about a person’s attitude goes beyond the observed details. Focus on the action and the mechanism that the text supports.
A useful paragraph begins with the proposed explanation, gives the strongest clues and states the limitation. For example: “The can may have leaked while Ravi carried it. Its lid was loose, and the puddle appeared after that journey. The dry pot trays make overflow from the pots less likely. However, no one saw the spill, so the exact cause is not certain.”
The words may, less likely and not certain are not empty hesitation. They accurately match the incomplete evidence supplied by the passage.
Use because before a reason and so before a result: “The lid was loose, so the group checked it.” That sentence describes their decision, which the passage supports. “The lid was loose, so Ravi caused the puddle” makes a stronger claim than the evidence warrants.
A connector does not remove uncertainty. You can write “The clues were consistent with a leak, so the group tested that possibility” without pretending the hypothesis is already proven.
Make three columns: observation or quoted detail; possible explanation; what else would help you decide. This record works for stories, reports and simple science passages.
For a home discussion, ask which sentence changed the learner’s confidence and why. The task is to connect evidence with a claim, not to guess the one answer an adult has in mind. Accept alternative explanations when they respect the passage and identify their limits.
See the reasoning
Try, explain, check
Try each task before opening its explanation. These are original BananaLearn questions, not official exam or past-paper questions. Where several answers can work, the explanation gives the criteria.
Beside the classroom pots
This is stated directly.
A loose watering-can lid
It is an observed condition, not a proven history of the spill.
Ravi carried the can across the room
The passage states the remembered sequence.
No, they were dry
That weakens an overflow explanation in this account.
They tightened the lid
This was the tested repair.
No
The proposed spill is inferred.
No
Time order alone does not establish a cause.
For example: loose lid and carrying before the puddle
Other supported combinations can include the dry trays.
No
It supports the possibility but does not recreate every earlier condition.
The lid was loose
The passage reports the condition but not that character judgment.
so
The second clause gives their resulting action.
For example: check whether water leaks from the loose lid under similar controlled handling
It tests the proposed mechanism; several carefully described checks are possible.
Copy these headings and fill them for one worked task, then for a fresh attempt. Use your own evidence rather than copying the model answer.
Explore BananaLearn’s games, learning features and one-to-one tutoring. Maths is our priority; English and Science tutoring are also available. Bring a recent example of schoolwork when checking teaching fit.
Original BananaLearn explanations, examples, illustrations and practice. Source facts checked 7 November 2026. Suggested levels are learning guides, not a claim that every board or textbook uses the same sequence.
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