In each of the following questions, two statements numbered I and II are…
2024
In each of the following questions, two statements numbered I and II are given. There may be cause and effect relationship between the two statements. These two statements may be the effect of the same cause or independent causes. These statements may be independent causes without having any relationship. Read both the statements in each question and mark your answer as-
Statements:
i. There is unprecedented increase in the number of young unemployed in comparison to the previous year.
ii. A large number of candidates submitted applications against an advertisement for the post of manager issued by a bank.
- A.
Statement I is the cause and statement II is its effect
- B.
Statement II is the cause and statement I is its effect
- C.
Both the statements I and II are independent causes
- D.
Both the statements I and II are effects of independent causes
- E.
Both the statements I and II are effects of some common cause
Attempted by 3 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: Cause-and-effect items test whether one statement fully explains the other, or whether the two require some unstated background reason.
Direct link: one statement, on its own, supplies a complete explanation for what the other reports; that statement is the cause, the other the effect.
Independent causes: neither statement explains the other, and neither is itself an effect; each simply stands as its own separate fact.
Effects of independent causes: neither statement explains the other, but each is best read as the outcome of its own separate, unstated trigger.
Effects of a common cause: neither statement explains the other, but both are best read as outcomes of one single shared unstated trigger.
Application:
Check whether one statement alone explains the other: Statement I reports a broad rise in the pool of unemployed youth; Statement II reports a wave of applications for one advertised post.
A larger pool of job seekers is, by itself, a complete and sufficient reason for more applicants turning up for any given vacancy, no separate hidden trigger needs to be invented to connect the two.
Because one statement's content alone accounts for the other, this rules out both independent causes (which would require no explanatory link at all) and effects of a common or independent cause (which would require a hidden third event); the relationship is a direct one.
Cross-check: Test the reverse direction: could Statement II explain Statement I? A single bank's manager-post advertisement is too narrow an event to move the nationwide count of unemployed youth, so the explanatory link cannot run from II to I. This confirms the direction found above, not the reverse.
Result: Statement I is the cause, and Statement II is its effect.