Given a causal relation ‘p causes q’, then a causal construction such as in treats the cause p as background information and presents the effect q as comment.

A consecutive construction has the form ‘S↴ so that ↴S’. By definition, the cause is in the main clause, the effect is in the subordinate clause. is an example. Here the causal relation itself is presupposed; both S↴ and ↴S are presented as new information.

There is an order constraint on consecutive constructions by which the subordinate clause must follow the main clause. If (for reasons of information structure) one wants to first present the effect and then the cause, one must form a causal construction such as .

is a plain consecutive (or “modal consecutive”) clause in the sense that there is a plain cause-effect relation between the two propositions. is a degree consecutive (or “intensity consecutive”).

Here the superordinate proposition depicts a situation that may be true to different degrees. The cause-effect relation between the two propositions depends on a certain degree being reached. The construction says that this degree is, in fact, reached, so that the effect follows.

There are sometimes different constructions for the two kinds of consecutive relation. In a plain consecutive like , it is the conjunction alone that codes the interpropositional relation. In a degree consecutive, the crucial degree is coded in a cataphoric adverb – so in – which anticipates that it will lead to a certain consequence. The dependent clause may then be introduced by a simple subordinator like that in .