Korean Cause & Effect Writing: -은 나머지, -는다는 것이, -어 내다
Korean essays chain cause to effect with -은 나머지 (너무 긴장한 나머지 말을 잊었다 — so nervous that I forgot my words), flag intention-result mismatch with -는다는 것이 (줄인다는 것이 오히려 늘었다 — I meant to cut it but it grew instead), and narrate hard-won achievement with -어 내다 (마침내 원인을 밝혀 냈다 — they finally managed to uncover the cause). The body-paragraph engine for TOPIK II question 54.
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Written by Alvin Lim Certified Korean Language Teacher (Level 2)
Korean essays drive a body paragraph by chaining cause to effect with three precise tools: -은 나머지 marks an excessive cause that forces a consequence (너무 긴장한 나머지 말을 잊었다 — so nervous that I forgot my words), -는다는 것이 flags an intention that backfired (줄인다는 것이 오히려 늘었다 — I meant to cut it, but it grew instead), and -어 내다 narrates a hard-won achievement (마침내 원인을 밝혀 냈다 — they finally managed to uncover the cause). This is Chapter 4, lesson three — the engine room of TOPIK II writing question 54, where you must explain why something happened and what it led to.
You have already learned to pose the essay’s question and to generalize a claim; now you build the analytical heart of the 본론, the cause-and-effect chain that turns a claim into an argument. Start with the vocabulary of causation.
Ten words for cause and effect
The connective tissue of any analytical paragraph.
So much that… — -은 나머지
To show that an excessive cause forced a consequence, attach -(으)ㄴ 나머지 to a verb or adjective. It means “as a result of (too much) X,” and the result is usually striking, unintended, or negative.
너무 긴장한 나머지 말을 잊어버렸다 = so nervous that I forgot my words 지나치게 서두른 나머지 실수를 했다 = I rushed so much that I made a mistake 경쟁이 과열된 나머지 부작용이 나타났다 = competition overheated so much that side effects appeared 너무 기쁜 나머지 눈물이 났다 = I was so happy that I cried
It attaches to the past-modifier form (긴장한, 서두른, 기쁜) and pairs naturally with 너무 / 지나치게. Reserve it for an extreme degree producing a consequence — for ordinary “because,” plain -아서/-어서 is enough.
I meant to… but instead — -는다는 것이
To flag an intention that backfired — you set out to do X, but Y happened — use -는다는 것이 (verbs), often with 오히려.
비용을 줄인다는 것이 오히려 더 늘었다 = I meant to cut costs, but they grew instead 살을 뺀다는 것이 오히려 쪘다 = I meant to lose weight, but gained it instead 돕는다는 것이 일을 더 키웠다 = trying to help, I only made things worse 조용히 말한다는 것이 그만 소리를 질렀다 = I meant to speak softly, but ended up shouting
It comes from the plain-style quote -는다고 하다 collapsed into 는다는 것 (“the thing of intending to do”) + 이/가, and 오히려 underlines the reversal. Keep it for deliberate actions that produced the opposite of what you wanted.
Managing to pull it off — -어 내다
To narrate an achievement won through effort and endurance, attach -어/-아 내다 to a verb. The nuance is “managed to / saw it through against resistance.”
연구진이 마침내 원인을 밝혀 냈다 = the team finally managed to uncover the cause 끝까지 고통을 참아 냈다 = endured the pain to the very end 결국 목표를 이뤄 냈다 = in the end they achieved the goal 온갖 위기를 견뎌 냈다 = they held out through every crisis
Unlike -어 버리다 (completion with finality or relief — 다 먹어 버렸다), -어 내다 says the outcome was hard-won. It is the verb of conclusions and triumph-over-difficulty narratives.
A cause-effect body paragraph
Here is how the three tools combine into one 본론 paragraph for a 54-번 essay on overheated academic competition:
사교육 경쟁이 과열된 나머지 여러 부작용이 나타나고 있다. 성적을 올린다는 것이 오히려 학생들의 흥미를 떨어뜨린 것이다. 부모는 부담을 줄인다는 것이 사교육비를 더 늘리고 말았다. 그러나 일부 학교는 자기주도 학습으로 이 문제를 조금씩 극복해 내고 있다. 결국 경쟁의 과열이 어떤 결과를 초래하는지 냉정히 따져 볼 때이다.
Notice the chain: an excessive cause (과열된 나머지) leads to a consequence, a well-meant action backfires (올린다는 것이 / 줄인다는 것이 오히려), and a hard-won response closes it (극복해 내고). That is a complete analytical paragraph.
Planning a cause-effect paragraph with a study partner
Two test-takers working out the 본론 — every tool from this lesson, live:
There is your 본론 engine: open with the excessive cause (-은 나머지), expose the backfire (-는다는 것이 오히려), and resolve with the hard-won result (-어 내다). The next lesson turns to countering the opposing view.
FAQ
How is -은 나머지 different from plain -아서/-어서 for ‘because’? Both link a cause to an effect, but -은/-ㄴ 나머지 specifically marks the cause as EXCESSIVE — ‘so much X that Y followed,’ usually an unintended or negative consequence. 긴장해서 말을 잊었다 just says ‘I forgot my words because I was nervous.’ 너무 긴장한 나머지 말을 잊었다 says ‘I was SO nervous that I (ended up) forgetting’ — the extremity is the point. It attaches to the past-modifier form (-(으)ㄴ 나머지 for verbs and adjectives: 긴장한, 무리한, 기쁜), pairs naturally with 너무/지나치게, and almost always leads to a striking result. Use -아서/-어서 for ordinary causation; reach for -은 나머지 in essays when you want to show that an extreme degree of something produced the outcome.
What exactly does -는다는 것이 express, and how is it built? -는다는 것이 (often -ㄴ다는 게 in speech) expresses an INTENTION-RESULT MISMATCH: you set out to do X, but Y happened instead — usually the opposite of what you wanted. 줄인다는 것이 오히려 늘었다 = I meant to reduce it, but it grew instead; 돕는다는 것이 일을 더 키웠다 = trying to help, I only made it worse. It’s built from the plain-style quote -는다고/-ㄴ다고 하다 collapsed into 는다는 것 (‘the thing of [intending to] do’) + 이/가, and it very often pairs with 오히려 (on the contrary) to underline the reversal. This is gold for a cause-effect essay paragraph where a well-meant action backfires. For adjectives and nouns the same backfire idea is usually carried by verbs of attempting, so keep -는다는 것이 for actions you deliberately undertook.
Does -어 내다 just mean ‘to finish,’ like -어 버리다? No — they color the result differently. -어 내다 stresses ACCOMPLISHING something difficult through sustained effort and endurance: 원인을 밝혀 냈다 (managed to uncover the cause), 끝까지 참아 냈다 (endured it to the end), 위기를 이겨 냈다 (overcame the crisis). The nuance is ‘pulled it off / saw it through against resistance.’ -어 버리다, by contrast, marks completion with a sense of finality or relief/regret: 다 먹어 버렸다 (ate it all up), 가 버렸다 (just left). So 참아 냈다 = endured it (with effort, admirably), while 참아 버렸다 would sound off because enduring isn’t a clean one-shot finish. In achievement narratives and essay conclusions, -어 내다 is the verb that says the outcome was hard-won.
Next: counterargument — -느니, 는 말할 것도 없고. Previous: generalizing — -기 마련이다, -는 법이다. Full path: curriculum hub.