Oorzaakvraag
A question asking why something happened in the world the text describes — the cause the text itself gives.
6 of our B2 reading items. The stem is Waarom …?, Wat houdt … tegen? or Wat noemt de tekst als de eigenlijke aanleiding? It looks like an argumentatie question, which also opens with waarom — but Waarom noemt de auteur X? asks what a sentence is for, while Waarom daalde de nota? asks what made something happen. The difficulty: B2 texts name the cause people assume, deny it, and only then give the real one. The denied cause is always an option.
How the exam tests this
Lezen for Programma II: about 35–36 multiple-choice questions over roughly 6 texts in 100 minutes, computer-marked. On oorzaak items the wrong options come from three places: the cause the text explicitly rules out (niet onwil, niet een besparing); a cause that is sensible in the real world but absent from the text (the king ordered it, a new tax); and a nearby fact that is a consequence or a side issue rather than the cause. The correct option is the text's cause, usually paraphrased, and often longer than the others because it keeps the mechanism.
What is wrong with this sentence?
Onwil om te veranderen
Most candidates write it exactly like this and lose the mark without knowing why.
The rest of this lesson
The rule, the worked examples, the exceptions and what to do in the exam room open with Mastery, together with every other lesson for this exam.
See plans