Cause and effect

A common use of connectors is to show that one thing is the 'reason' or 'cause' of another.

He tapped his own life force because he wanted me dead.

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man(1986)

Wanting the main character dead was the reason or cause for the shaman tapping his own life force.

The swans chased you because they could see your sandwiches.

She couldn't escape, as the guards outside her cell were being unreasonably vigilant.

Use a connector to show the reason or cause of something.

What about this next snippet?

He could poke it from his side so it would fall out on the other side.

Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware(2007)

The key falling out on the other side is the 'effect' or 'result' of poking it.

Notice how the different connectors 'because' and 'so' both show a causal relationship, but they give the cause and effect in different orders.

What happens if we rewrite the snippets with the other connector, keeping the cause and effect the same?

The original: He tapped his own life force because he wanted me dead.

The rewrite: He wanted me dead so he tapped his own life force.

The original snippet places the most emphasis on the effect ("he tapped his own life force"), whereas our rewrite emphasises the reason ("he wanted me dead").

How about the other one?

The original: He could poke it from his side so it would fall out on the other side.

The rewrite: It would fall out on the other side because he could poke it from his side.

Again we've shifted the emphasis, this time from the cause ("poking it from his side") to the effect ("the key falling out on the other side").

Which way you use will depend on what's most important, or whatever sounds best to you.

The sun was angled directly in the cabby's face so they couldn't see the turn-off.

Riggy's phone was completely dead, therefore he would have stayed at the hostel.

Use a connector to show the effect or result of something.

Connectors and an introduction to complex meaning