Question 221·Medium·Transitions
After months of drought, the city introduced a tiered pricing system to encourage residents to reduce water use. _____ average household consumption fell by 18 percent in the following quarter, with the steepest declines in neighborhoods that faced the highest rates.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For transition questions, first ignore the answer choices and decide how the ideas around the blank relate: are they showing cause and effect, contrast, example, restatement, or just timing? Then classify each transition choice by its usual function and eliminate any that don’t match the relationship you identified. Always read the full sentence with your chosen transition to confirm it creates a clear, logical connection without changing the writer’s intended meaning.
Hints
Look at how the second part relates to the first
Read the first sentence part and ask: does the next part show something that fits with it, something that goes against it, or something unrelated that just happens at the same time?
Check whether the information is similar, opposite, or new
Is the fact that water consumption fell by 18 percent repeating the first idea in simpler terms, contradicting it, or adding a new outcome that follows after it?
Match transition meanings to the relationship you found
Think about what each type of transition usually shows: contrast, rephrasing, or events occurring at the same time. Eliminate any option whose basic function does not match the relationship between the city’s policy and the change in water use.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand what each part of the sentence is saying
First clause: “After months of drought, the city introduced a tiered pricing system to encourage residents to reduce water use.” This tells us about an action the city took.
Second clause: “___ average household consumption fell by 18 percent in the following quarter, with the steepest declines in neighborhoods that faced the highest rates.” This tells us what happened with water use afterward: it went down.
Ask: Is this second part opposing the first, repeating it, happening at the same time, or logically connected to it?
Decide the logical relationship between the two parts
The city changed prices to encourage less water use. Then we are told that water consumption fell by 18 percent, especially where prices were highest.
This is not a contradiction; it fits what we would expect from the policy. It’s not merely a restatement, and it doesn’t feel like an unrelated event. The second part is connected to the first in a way that shows what happened after the policy was put in place.
Test each transition type against that relationship
Now match each choice to the relationship:
- A) “Nevertheless,” signals contrast or an unexpected outcome.
- C) “In other words,” signals a rephrasing or clarification of the same idea in different words.
- D) “Meanwhile,” signals something happening at the same time but not necessarily caused by the first thing.
- B) (the remaining option) signals that the second part is what happened because of the first.
Only one of these fits a situation where a policy is followed by the outcome that aligns with its goal.
Choose the transition that shows the outcome of the policy
Since the second part shows what happened after the new pricing system—and fits the goal of that system—the transition must show that this drop in water use is the outcome of the policy. The only option that does this correctly is “As a result,” so choice B is correct.