In this part, we'll look at one more kind of composition - cause & effect (原因結果).
Compositional writing - cause & effect/作文の書いて：原因結果
Let's look at the example of the beginning of our sample composition from Part 1:
University is a whole new world for me, and I will tell you how. My life at my university is good and I have made many friends here. The classes are hard, but so far I enjoy this school. But it is more than just about studying. It is a life unlike the one I had in high school.
In high school, I went to school with kids I grew up with from my elementary school days. In my university, however, I go to classes with all different kinds of people, and even some from other countries. For example, in my history class I sit next to a student from Malaysia. I have never met anyone from Malaysia before, so I am learning as much about culture as I am about history in that class. It is incredible! In my Japanese class, there are students from eight different countries, and each one of them speak great English. Some of them could already speak two or three other languages before they came to this university.
Now in Part 3, we looked at how to make this topic into a processes (手順) composition. But now let's say we want to write about cause & effect - how one thing has an impact, or chain of effects, to create some condition or situation.
Let's look at what our composition would be like! Let's say that we want to write about the changes that university life have made on us, and possible future changes that one point of university life - contact with students from different countries and cultures - would have on us.
This is what the student who is writing about university life might say:
(…) In my Japanese class, there are students from eight different countries, and each one of them speak great English. Some of them could already speak two or three other languages before they came to this university.
Already, I feel I have changed as a result of this contact with people from different cultures. Here are some of what I have felt, and what I believe a person can take from the experience of different people and their backgrounds.
First, you begin to see that people are not as different as you might have imagined. They are different from their backgrounds, their cultures, their languages, and perhaps things such as their religions and other belief systems. But interpersonally, when you get to know them as individuals, they are just like you - they feel happiness over sometimes even simple things, they are sad over what goes against what they believe, they can be bored by everyday life, but also experience great changes themselves in the new people they come into contact with and the places they come to for their first time.
From there, you also begin to realize that you become a different person than what you were before. Your beliefs are challenged, and while we often fear that they will be shown to be bad, or at least not as good as what you thought you knew, perhaps they will be strengthened. It might even be possible that a belief you had that many others in your own culture did not agree with, and felt was wrong, might not be wrong after all, as perhaps you can see how that belief might be perfectly normal to people in another country or culture.
For example, I did not know what natto was until I got to know some Japanese students. They wanted to show me what it was, and I was curious about it, so one time we went to an import shop that sold natto. When we went back to one of the Japanese students' rooms for me to try it, I could not get over the smell. It was awful! They laughed, because they knew many people from other countries would react they way I did. But they were my friends, and I decided I would try it.
The taste was strong, and I did not like it at first. But they kept encouraging me to try at least a little more. Finally, I found that I could like it! I never knew how I could accept it, but I am getting used to it more and more, because after checking on the internet, I found that it is a very healthy kind of food item and is very good for breakfast. Now, I am eating it whenever I can!
I tell the story about natto because my experiences with my Japanese friends have made me more open and accepting of things I would not have tried before. An experience like this might in turn help you to become a more open and accepting kind of person as well. What seems strange or unusual at first to some people you might see as something natural, something almost not worth noticing, because you can understand it as a matter of course - something everyday and not unusual at all. Things that others might misunderstand you might see as understandable, and perhaps what you could agree with. You could understand that not everyone has had the same experiences, or live under the same standards. You can know that whatever there is about other people that might still seem unusual to you, others will see you the same way. Where the acceptance comes in is how well you are able to live with their differences, and how well they can live with your differences.
I believe these are the kinds of changes I already see that have happened with me in this university, and how I see what further effects they could have in the future.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Signal words, like what we saw in Part 2 about processes, can also be used in cause & effect writing to show different effects, or an order of effects.
First, you begin to see that people are not as different as you might have imagined. (…)
From there, you also begin to realize that you become a different person than what you were before. (…)
Finally, I found that I could like it! (…)
An experience like this might in turn help you to become a more open and accepting kind of person as well. (…)
I hope this can help you as a model with how to write about cause & effect. Go to Part 5 for more on compositional writing!
Images: Personal photographs. All rights reserved.
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