Section 2 — How Money Works Grammar focus

Session 5 Grammar: Explaining processes with "when" and "as"

Financial systems are built on chain reactions — one event triggers another. This grammar pattern lets you explain those sequences clearly and professionally.

Grammar Focus

When X happens, Y follows / As X increases, Y decreases

Use when to describe a conditional sequence — one event that triggers another. Use as to describe a simultaneous or proportional relationship between two things. Both are essential for explaining how financial systems work — where every action has a consequence.

Patterns: When [event], [result] · As [change], [parallel change] · [Event], which [consequence]

When a bank issues a loan, it creates a new deposit — the money supply expands without any physical cash being printed.

When borrowers default in large numbers, bank balance sheets deteriorate rapidly, which can trigger a credit freeze across the entire system.

As confidence in a bank falls, depositors begin to withdraw funds — which further weakens the bank and accelerates the very collapse they fear.

As the money supply expands through credit creation, more money chases the same quantity of goods, putting upward pressure on prices.

When one major institution fails, counterparty exposures are triggered across the network — contagion spreads faster than regulators can respond.

As leverage ratios rise, the system becomes increasingly fragile — a small shock that would otherwise be manageable becomes catastrophic.

Related connectors for sequences

this leads to... which in turn causes... triggering a... as a result... consequently...