Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc..what is this? It is in GRE essay writing guide.

[Mahendran]

Could you explain what is Post Hoc ergo propter hoc  fallacy? I came across this phrase in a GRE guide as something to with logical reasoning in analytical questions.
 I could not easily figure it out.

[Admin]

In Latin it means “after this, therefore because of this"  Quite often we are quick to make conclusions based  on a sequential pattern. If you knew some of the Tamil proverbs,  there is one saying that“The palm fruit fell beause a sparrow  sat on it “ which is purely a correlation. In GRE essay  some of the analytical contexts would require you to identify this type of logical fallacies. Correlation is not Causation When an event happens in close proximity to another event, it is sometimes easy to assume that the first event caused the second. Often, however, there is more than one cause.