SAT® · Reading and Writing: Expression of Ideas
Sequence and Time Transitions
Sequence transitions such as first, then, subsequently, and six months later work only when two sentences describe stages of the same event at different points in time, not just related facts.
A sequence connector's job is narrow: it tells the reader where on a timeline the second sentence falls relative to the first. That only makes sense if the content actually has a before and after. If sentence one tags birds in April and sentence two recovers the tags in October, the connector's entire function is to mark that six months passed between those two dated events. The words themselves carry the order, not just a vague sense of 'next'.
To check whether a sequence word fits, ask what relation the two sentences actually have. Do they describe one process unfolding in stages, with each sentence a step further along the same timeline? Then a time connector earns its place. Do they instead describe two separate facts about the same subject, two shares of one total, two features of one method? Then the sentences need an addition word like in addition or moreover, or a contrast word, because there is no clock running between them.
This sits right next to the other connector types in the same question style: addition, contrast, cause and effect, and sequence are the main categories tested, and the test deliberately offers a sequence word as a tempting wrong answer when the real relation is addition. The fix is always the same: find the actual logical relation first, then pick the category of word that names it, then choose the specific wording that fits the sentence's grammar.
Key terms
- Sequence connector
- A transition word that places one sentence's content at a later or earlier point in time than the other's.
- Timeline relation
- A relation between two sentences where one event happens before, during, or after the other.
- Addition connector
- A transition word like in addition or moreover that adds a parallel fact with no time order implied.
- Distractor
- An answer choice that sounds plausible but names the wrong logical relation between the sentences.
Watch it explained
- How it worksHow does a sequence connector place a sentence on a timeline instead of in a logical relation?
- Worked exampleFind the connector between 'Researchers tagged the birds in April' and 'They recovered the tags in October'.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't 'then' a safe filler for two sentences that merely sit next to each other?
Check yourself
End of topic.