<em>Correct Answer: B) The squirrels running in circles outside in the yard drove the dog at the window into a wild barking fit.</em>
A cause/effect structure, as its name implies, explains <u><em>why</em></u><em> </em>something happened and <u><em>what</em></u><u> </u>happened, with one being the direct consequence of the other. Let's look at each option:
<u>A) Our last dog never whined or begged for any favors, but this one won't stop whining except when she's asleep.</u>
In this sentence, there is no cause/effect structure. In contrast, the speaker is only comparing the behavior of their current dog to their last one.
<u>B) The squirrels running in circles outside in the yard drove the dog at the window into a wild barking fit.</u>
In this case, we can see a clear cause: "<u>The squirrels running in circles outside the yard"</u>, and its effect: <u>"drove the dog at the window into a wild barking fit"</u>.
<u>C) The only way to stop the dog from whining and pacing the living room all day is to let her out at least five minutes during every hour.</u>
This option may be deceiving, as one would think that the cause, <u>"to let her [the dog] out at least five minutes during every hour."</u> would have the effect of <u>"to stop the dog from whining and pacing the living room all day"</u>, but look closely, the sentence doesn't actually show the direct cause/effect structure as sentence B), where one thing directly leads to the other, instead, the speaker is talking about how he/she stops the dog from whining and pacing the living room.
<u>D) First, the dog will just come up to you and look at you longingly, then she will begin to whimper and touch her paw to your knee pleadingly.</u>
This sentence doesn't follow a cause/effect organization of ideas, instead, it just talks about the sequence of actions the dog performs when approaching a person, as the dog coming up to a person and looking longingly doesn't have the effect of the dog beginning to whimper.
