Expression of Ideas: Transitions
Two claim-boxes and one arrow whose direction is decided by what the boxes contain, family by family, including the pairs students reliably swap.
12 topics · 40 questions
Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.
Naming the Relationship Before You Look at the Choices
- How it worksHow does covering the blank and stating the relationship in your own words narrow four choices to one?
- Common mistakeWhy doesn't plugging each choice into the gap and listening for the smoothest one work?
- Worked exampleWalk me through predicting the link between a claim that a trial failed and a note that the data proved useful.
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student reaches a transition blank in a passage about a trial that recovered 24 percent of a compound.
Which choice describes the first move?Same Direction or Opposite Direction First
- How it worksHow does one arrow between two claim-boxes split every transition word into two piles?
- Worked exampleShow me which pile 'nevertheless', 'moreover', 'thus', and 'conversely' land in and why.
- Going furtherWhat happens when three of the four offered choices point in the same direction as one another?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage about 15 restored organs offers the transitions 'nevertheless', 'moreover', 'thus', and 'conversely'.
Which choice sorts them by direction?Reading Both Sides of the Blank
- How it worksHow do the two boxes on either side of the arrow jointly decide what that arrow is allowed to say?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the sentence before the gap enough information to pick a transition with confidence?
- Worked exampleWalk me through a gap whose correct transition flips once you finish the clause that follows it.
Your turneasy1 of 3
The survey counted 75 pairs on the outer skerries, the total the team expected. ______, the inner islands, where nesting had been dense for 23 years, held almost none.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?Addition Transitions
- How it worksHow do 'moreover', 'in addition', and 'furthermore' stack a second claim on top of the first?
- Worked exampleShow me why 'also' fits between two separate findings that both point the same way.
- Common mistakeWhy does an addition word collapse when the two claims turn out to be one claim said twice?
Your turneasy1 of 3
The new coating cut corrosion on 31 of the test panels. ______, it lowered the weight of each panel by a tenth.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?Contrast and Concession Transitions
- How it worksHow does a concession transition grant that one thing is true before turning against it?
- Worked exampleWalk me through choosing 'though' over 'in fact' when a poet used a traditional form to break tradition.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't 'however' a safe default just because so many sentences seem to turn somewhere?
- Common mistakeWhy doesn't 'although' work as a transition standing alone between two separate sentences?
- Going furtherWhat separates plain contrast from concession when both arrows appear to head the same way?
Your turneasy1 of 3
The poet worked in a form 6 centuries old. ______, she used it to break with the tradition that invented it.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?Cause and Effect Transitions
- How it worksHow do 'therefore', 'consequently', and 'as a result' mark the second box as produced by the first?
- Worked exampleFind the transition that belongs between a sentence about a drought and one about crop prices climbing.
- Common mistakeWhy doesn't one event appearing after another in a passage make it an effect of that event?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A drought cut the harvest by 48 percent. ______, grain prices climbed through the autumn.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?Example and Specification Transitions
- How it worksHow does an example transition shrink the scope while a summary transition widens it?
- Worked exampleShow me why 'for instance' fits after a broad claim about migration and before one bird's route.
- Going furtherWhat happens when the second sentence offers a specific case but the first was already specific?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Many songbirds cross the Gulf in a single flight. ______, the blackpoll warbler flies 78 hours without landing.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?Sequence and Time Transitions
- How it worksHow do 'meanwhile', 'subsequently', and 'eventually' pin two events to positions on a timeline?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't 'then' always safe when a passage is plainly listing steps in order?
- Worked exampleWalk me through choosing between 'meanwhile' and 'afterward' for two steps of a laboratory procedure.
Your turneasy1 of 3
The sample is heated for 33 minutes. ______, it is weighed while still warm.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?Clarification, Emphasis, and Similarity Transitions
- How it worksHow do 'indeed', 'likewise', and 'in other words' each treat the second box differently?
- Worked exampleShow me 'in other words' failing when the second sentence adds a fact the first never mentioned.
- Common mistakeWhy doesn't 'indeed' work as a general-purpose intensifier between any two related claims?
- Going furtherWhat happens to 'likewise' when the two claims are parallel in shape but opposite in content?
Your turneasy1 of 3
The filter removed 98 percent of the particles in one pass. ______, it left almost nothing behind.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?Summary and Conclusion Transitions
- How it worksHow does a phrase like 'in short' gather every idea above it into one closing box?
- Worked exampleWalk me through why 'ultimately' fits a sentence that resolves three earlier findings at once.
- Going furtherWhat happens when a summary transition is offered after a passage that made only one point?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A paragraph reports three findings: a 29 percent rise in nesting, a longer season, and a wider range. Its closing sentence gathers all three.
Which choice completes the gap before that closing sentence?The Pairs Students Reliably Confuse
- How it worksHow does testing plain 'but' against plain 'so' in the gap separate a contrast from a consequence?
- Going furtherWhat happens when two of the four choices belong to the very same relationship family?
- Worked exampleShow me what 'moreover' and 'nevertheless' each do to one sentence about a failed rocket launch.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't 'in fact' a contrast word even though it often follows a sentence that sounds negative?
Your turneasy1 of 3
The rocket failed to reach orbit after 151 seconds of flight. ______, the telemetry from the launch filled a gap in the flight model.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?Right Relationship, Wrong Scope or Register
- How it worksHow does a transition's scope decide whether it reaches back one sentence or a whole paragraph?
- Common mistakeWhy doesn't a transition that fits the logic automatically fit the size of the idea it links?
- Worked exampleWalk me through rejecting a correct-direction transition whose casual tone clashes with an academic passage.
Your turneasy1 of 3
A paragraph makes 6 related points and closes with a sentence that follows from all of them. A student picks 'for this reason', which points back at a single cause.
Which choice best describes that pick?AP®, SAT® and PSAT/NMSQT® are trademarks registered by the College Board (PSAT/NMSQT® jointly with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation). ACT® is a registered trademark of ACT Education Corp. GRE® is a registered trademark of ETS. LSAT® is a registered trademark of the Law School Admission Council. MCAT® is a registered trademark of the Association of American Medical Colleges. ISEE® and SSAT® are registered trademarks of their owners. None of these organizations is affiliated with, or endorses, Jentoo.