Question

Texts - 4/8
Streak bonus!
+60


Activating this element will cause an extra tools region to appear

The stock market is critical to the success of the U.S. economy. For this reason the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, left the entire nation in financial distress.


Before the Crash

Following World War I, Americans felt better because the war had ended. As a result, they began spending a lot more money! At first this increase in consumerism boosted the U.S. economy.


Overeager investors sought to strike it rich in the stock market. They wanted short-term gains, so they made a lot of speculation purchases. Speculation led directly to the stock market crash of 1929 when high numbers of investors sold their stocks. Meanwhile, the Dust Bowl was starting to spread through the Midwest, destroying farms and crops.


Nervous investors rush to withdraw their money from the banks.

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929, was a day that would become known as Black Tuesday. This was the day that the Great Depression started. On this day, after a series of mini crashes, the stock market declined twelve percent in value.


The Severe Impacts

The stock market crash of 1929 was like an earthquake, with the impacts felt all over the country. Many businesses were forced to close and file for bankruptcy. Due to the crash there were no longer enough customers. Millions of people lost their jobs and struggled to find new ones as businesses continued to shut down. As much as 25 percent of the population was out of work by 1933. As a result, many Americans could not afford to pay back loans, including the mortgages on their homes and farmland.

Scroll Down

Questions
Why is a cause-and-effect text structure effective for this text?


It follows a chronological flow to explain the events of the Great Depression.


It helps the reader understand what it was like to live during the Great Depression.


It proves the author’s theory that the stock market crash was unimportant.


It explains how the stock market crash caused the Great Depression to begin.

Answer 1

It explains how the stock market crash caused the Great Depression to begin.

(Teaching the causes — e.g., speculation, Black Tuesday — and the effects — business failures, unemployment, foreclosures — shows the cause-and-effect relationships.)