1. 2. 3. 4. Answers You should have noticed four causes in the
announcement:
1. Poor sales.
2. A renovation on the side of the train station where
the concession is located.
3. Town regulations will now close the station at
6 p.m., which will decrease commuter traffic
significantly.
4. The proprietor of the concession has decided to
retire.
Contributing vs. Sufficient Cause You’ll notice that the previous announcement informs
commuters that “none of these factors on their own
would have caused the long-term closure of the con-
cession.” This means that each of these causes is a con- tributing cause. A contributing cause helps make
something happen but can’t make that thing happen by
itself. It is only one factor that contributes to the cause.
On the opposite end of the cause spectrum is the
sufficient cause. A sufficient cause is strong enough to
make something happen by itself. Sufficient cause is
demonstrated in the following paragraph.
Dear Mr. Miller:
It has come to our attention that you have
breached your lease. When you signed your lease,
you agreed that you would leave Apartment 3A at
123 Elm Street in the same state that you found it
when you moved in. You also agreed that if the
apartment showed signs of damage upon your
departure, then we (Livingston Properties) would
not return the security deposit that you gave us at the
time you moved into the building. Upon inspec-
tion, we have found a great deal of damage to the
appliances in the apartment as well as the wood
floors. Consequently, we will not be returning your
security deposit.
Here, you can see that there is one clear reason
why Livingston Properties will not return Mr. Miller’s
security deposit. He breached his lease by damaging the
apartment he rented from them. (If you don’t know
what breach means, you should be able to determine the
meaning from the context.)
