Transitions

Every transition question asks “Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?” The paragraph that goes with it has two to five sentences and one blank. The four choices are transition wordsA word or phrase like “however” or “for example” that shows how two sentences connect. or short phrases, like “however,” and “for example,” each ending in a comma. They all fit the grammar, so you choose by what the sentences mean.

The blank usually opens a sentence. It can also sit in the middle of one, or open the second half of a sentence after a semicolon.

Sometimes the choices are longer phrases, like “Despite this account,” which admits something and carries on anyway. Turn each one into the link it names and work the question as usual.

Many lizards can drop their tails when a predator grabs them. The loose tail keeps twitching on the ground for several minutes. ______ the predator often watches the tail while the lizard escapes.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

• A. For example,
• B. Similarly,
• C. In conclusion,
• D. As a result,

1. Cover the choices. All four will sound fine in the blank, so your ear can't sort them.

2. Say the sentence before the blank and the sentence with the blank in a few words each. Here that's “the tail keeps twitching” and “the predator watches the tail.” Keep small words like “most,” “not,” “may,” and “sought to,” since one of them can change the link.

3. Check the rest of the paragraph, after the blank as well as before it. A “first,” an “also,” or two dates can point to order or one more point. This paragraph has nothing like that.

4. Name the link between those two sentences and predict a word. The predator watches the tail because it's twitching, so the second sentence is a result of the first. Predict “as a result.”

5. Uncover the choices and cross off every one that names a different link.

   • A says the second sentence is one case of the first. Watching the tail isn't a case of twitching.
   • B says the second sentence describes something like the first. Both are about the tail, but nothing is being compared.
   • C says the sentence sums up the paragraph. It comes last, but it adds a new fact.
   • D matches your prediction.

   If nothing matches your prediction, keep it anyway and cross off the choices that name a link these sentences don't have. The answer may be a word you wouldn't have thought of, like “fittingly.”

6. Read the two sentences through with “as a result” in place, and check that they make sense together.

Nearly every choice names one of these links. Once you've named the link, find its row. Any choice from another row is out.

If two choices you have left mean the same thing, like “for example” and “for instance,” they'd both be right, so neither is the answer. Go back and name the link again. A formal word like “furthermore” names the same link as plain “in addition,” so don't pick it for its sound. Words in one row can still differ, though. “Earlier” and “next” share a row and point opposite ways.

“Although the survey was short, it reached every household. ______ its results carry more weight than the longer study's.”

A wrong choice can point to a link that's somewhere else in the paragraph, so check that yours runs between the sentence before the blank and the one with the blank.

When the blank sits inside a sentence, read the sentence without it. In “The first loaf came out flat. The second, ______ rose high,” that leaves “The second rose high,” which goes against the flat loaf, so “however” fits. After a semicolon, treat each half of the sentence as a sentence of its own.

“Most of the samples dissolved within a minute. ______ the two densest held their shape.”

“Many desert plants store water in their stems. ______ the mesquite tree stores very little.”

To check, finish the sentence “This is an example of ______.” If you end up naming something the passage never said, cross the example word off.

“Specifically,” “in particular,” and “to be exact” share the example row. They name the exact case the sentence before had in mind: “The coach changed one thing about practice. Specifically, she moved it to the morning.”

“The 1913 census counted the flock at 400 birds. ______ the 1927 count found 60.”

“In comparison” and “by comparison” would fit this blank too. They point out a difference, so they're contrast words.

“Similarly” and “likewise” need two things that are alike in a way you can name. Two steps of one process don't count. In “First, the gardener soaks the seeds. ______ she plants them in trays,” the link is order, so “next” fits and “similarly” doesn't.

“The success rate was one in four. ______ a quarter of the trials worked.”

“In fact” and “indeed” sit in the addition row, but they push the same point further instead of adding a second one: “The glue is strong. Indeed, one drop can hold a brick.” A second point, like “it dries clear,” would take “in addition.”

“The clay was cheap, the kiln was close, and the main road ran past the door. ______ the workshop stayed for sixty years.”

“Finally” and “lastly” can pull you the same way at the end of a paragraph. Before you keep one, find the earlier steps it counts from.

“The ferry left at six. ______ the tide turned at seven.”

In a story told in the past, one event usually follows another, so “later” or “then” is often true. Check which way a time word points. “Previously” and “earlier” look back, and “meanwhile” means at the same time.

A few result words are more exact. “To that end” needs a goal the passage stated, as in “The town wanted fewer cars downtown. To that end, it raised parking fees.” “In turn” says a result goes on to cause something else. “After all” gives the reason for what came before, so it looks backward.

“Instead” and “alternatively” need an earlier option to replace. In “Stamps got cheaper. ______ letter volume tripled,” the choice “Instead” has nothing to replace, because the tripling is what followed.

“In one town, mail tripled after the price of a stamp fell. In another, it doubled. ______ cheaper postage brings in more letters.”

“The vault holds letters from three continents. ______ it holds the ships' ledgers.”

“Conversely” needs the reverse case, like warm air rising and cool air sinking. “On the contrary” fits only after a claim the passage says is false: “Critics expected the bridge to sag. On the contrary, it hasn't moved an inch.”

A concession has two sides, a drawback the writer admits and a claim that still stands. Each concession word comes before one side or the other.

• “Admittedly,” “granted,” and “of course” come before the drawback: “The bridge is sturdy. Admittedly, its paint is peeling.”
• “Even so,” “nevertheless,” “nonetheless,” “still,” and “that said” come before the claim that stands: “Its paint is peeling. Even so, the bridge is sturdy.” At the start of a sentence, “still” means “even so.”

“The bridge is sturdy. ______ it has stood through three floods.”

“The new trail is the better route to the lake. ______ like the old one, it floods every spring.”

“At the north end of the lake, the ice is thick enough to walk on by January. ______ the water rarely freezes, because warm springs feed it.”

“More often” brings in the usual case after a rarer one: “A few of these storms reach the coast. More often, they break up over the ocean.” “Fittingly” says the second fact suits the first: “The museum tells the story of flight. Fittingly, it sits beside the state's first airfield.”

Work through the three examples with the six steps, then try five more.