Question 224·Medium·Transitions
Many species of bees have been experiencing population declines in recent decades. Scientists attribute this trend to factors such as pesticide use, habitat loss, and disease. ______ several community organizations have started planting pollinator gardens to provide safe havens for bees in urban environments.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For transition questions, first ignore the choices and decide in your own words how the ideas before and after the blank are related—are you adding similar information, giving a cause or effect, showing a contrast, providing an example, or showing a reaction? Once you’ve named the relationship, quickly scan the options and eliminate any that express a different kind of link (for example, contrast words when there’s no opposition, or example words when there is no general statement). Finally, plug your remaining choice into the sentence to confirm it fits both meaning and tone. This “relationship first, word second” method helps you avoid picking answers that merely sound smooth but are logically wrong.
Hints
Identify the role of the first part
Focus on what the first two sentences are talking about: are they describing a situation, giving causes, stating opinions, or something else?
Identify the role of the second part
Look closely at the part after the blank: are the community organizations giving another cause, showing an opposite idea, giving an example, or taking some kind of action?
Match meaning, not sound
Think about the logical relationship between the problem (bee declines) and the community actions (planting gardens). Then choose the transition that best matches that relationship, not just what sounds smooth.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand what the first sentence is doing
Read the first sentence: it explains a problem—many bee species are declining—and gives causes like pesticide use, habitat loss, and disease. So, the first part sets up a concerning situation.
Understand what the second sentence is doing
The second sentence talks about community organizations starting to plant pollinator gardens. Ask: Why are they doing this? It’s clearly connected to the problem of bee declines: they are taking action to help bees by providing safe havens. So the second sentence describes a reaction/response to the problem in the first sentence.
Match the transition to the relationship
Now decide what kind of connection is needed between the problem (bee declines) and the action (planting gardens). The relationship is “Because of this problem, people are doing X.” That calls for a transition that shows a reaction to the previous information. Among the choices, only “In response,” correctly shows that the organizations’ actions are a reaction to the bee population decline, so that is the best choice.