Home » Verbal Reasoning » Cause and Effect

Cause–Effect reasoning: Identify the relationship between Statement I and Statement II. S1: A large number of people fell sick after consuming sweets from a particular shop in the locality. S2: A major part of the locality is flooded and has become inaccessible to outsiders. Choose the correct cause–effect option.

Difficulty: Medium

Statement I is the cause and Statement II is its effect.
Statement II is the cause and Statement I is its effect.
Both statements I and II are independent causes.
Both statements I and II are effects of independent causes.
Both statements I and II are effects of a common cause.

Correct Answer: Both statements I and II are effects of a common cause.

Explanation:

Given data

S1: Food-borne illness cluster traced to sweets from one shop.
S2: The locality is flooded and largely inaccessible.

Concept / Approach
Flooding can contaminate water supplies/ingredients and disrupt sanitation, leading to spoiled food and outbreaks; it also causes access issues. Thus both statements can stem from the same flood event.

Option check
E: Common cause (flood) ⇒ contamination/illness (S1) and inaccessibility (S2). ✔ A/B/C/D do not reflect the shared-disaster mechanism.

More Questions from Cause and Effect

Discussion & Comments