A cause-and-effect question asks why something happened, or what it led to. Find the because in the passage, not a cause you brought from outside. Comparative relationships are a neighboring job, in comparative relationships.
Because, therefore, so
Pivot words often mark the effect. The sentence before them is usually the cause. If the passage only says two things happened in order, that is sequence, not cause, in sequence of events.
Literal proof still applies, in the literal proof rule. Inference items that go one step past the line are in inference questions.
The bottom line
Point to the because. Order alone is not a cause.
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