Skip to content
LessonPrint

Following a Chain of Causes is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on holding a multi-step causal chain together, aligned to Common Core standard RI.4.10. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 21 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next set

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Following a Chain of Causes

RI.4.10

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Why Clocks Agree

Until the 1840s, every British town kept its own time, set by the sun. Noon in Bristol was about ten minutes after noon in London. That was no problem while the fastest thing on the road was a horse. The railways changed it. A timetable cannot work if every station measures noon differently, and trains sharing a track need to agree about when. So the railway companies imposed London time on their whole network. People called it railway time. Some towns kept two minute hands on the town clock for years, one local and one railway. In 1880 Parliament made a single time legal across the country. The sun had been overruled by the timetable.

  1. 1. Put these in order: Parliament makes it law, towns keep two minute hands, railways impose London time.
  2. 2. Summarise this text.
  3. 3. Explain the relationship between the railways and standard time.
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Longitude Problem

A ship's latitude — how far north or south it is — can be found from the height of the sun at noon. Sailors could do that for centuries. Longitude, how far east or west, was the problem. It has no natural marker. The solution was known in principle: compare the time on board with the time at a fixed place. The Earth turns fifteen degrees an hour, so every hour of difference is fifteen degrees of longitude. That required a clock that stayed accurate on a rolling, salty, temperature-swinging ship. No such clock existed. John Harrison, a carpenter, spent forty-three years building four. The fourth, finished in 1759, was the size of a large pocket watch and lost five seconds in eighty-one days at sea.

  1. 1. Explain the relationship between an accurate clock and knowing your longitude.
  2. 2. Summarise this text.
  3. 3. Put these in order: Harrison finishes his fourth clock, the principle is known, latitude can be measured.

LessonPrint · RI.4.10 · Set 21 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Following a Chain of Causes

Set 21. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Railways impose London time, towns keep two minute hands, Parliament makes it law. 2. Every British town kept its own sun time until railway timetables made that impossible, so railway companies imposed London time and Parliament made it law in 1880. 3. Timetables and shared track needed every station to agree about when, so the companies imposed London time.
  2. 2.1. Comparing shipboard time with time at a fixed place gives the hours of difference, and each hour is fifteen degrees. 2. Latitude was easy and longitude had no natural marker; comparing times would give it, and Harrison spent forty-three years building a clock accurate enough at sea. 3. Latitude can be measured, the principle is known, Harrison finishes his fourth clock.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.4.10 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.