Question 41·Medium·Transitions
Researchers had long believed that the shimmering lights observed in Laguna Verde were produced by floating phosphorescent minerals. Recent chemical analyses, however, revealed no trace of such minerals. ______ the research team shifted its focus to living organisms capable of emitting light, eventually identifying a species of plankton as the true source.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For transition questions, always read the full sentence (or sentences) around the blank before looking at the choices. Decide in your own words how the ideas relate—are they showing cause and effect, contrast, similarity, or just happening at the same time? Once you’ve named that relationship, eliminate any options whose meanings don’t match it, and then choose the transition that best expresses the relationship you already identified instead of what simply “sounds good.”
Hints
Focus on the cause
Look closely at what the chemical analyses revealed and how that affects the researchers’ original belief about the minerals.
Focus on the effect
Now look at what the research team does after the blank. Are they keeping the same idea, changing it, or doing something unrelated?
Name the relationship
Decide whether the second part is showing (1) a similarity, (2) a contrast, (3) events happening at the same time, or (4) a result of the first part.
Test each transition meaning
Match each answer choice’s meaning (similar, contrast, time, or result) to the relationship you identified between the two parts of the sentence.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand what happens before the blank
First, read up to the blank: researchers once thought the lights were from floating phosphorescent minerals, but new chemical analyses “revealed no trace of such minerals.” This means the earlier explanation was not supported by the data.
Understand what happens after the blank
Now read the part after the blank: “the research team shifted its focus to living organisms capable of emitting light, eventually identifying a species of plankton as the true source.” This shows how the team changed direction in response to the new evidence and found a new explanation.
Decide the logical relationship
Ask: How is the second part connected to the first? The new analyses disproved the mineral explanation, and because of that, the team changed its focus and discovered plankton. This is a cause-and-effect relationship: the analyses (cause) led to the shift in focus (effect).
Match the relationship to the best transition
Now check each option’s meaning:
- “Similarly,” shows a comparison between two similar things.
- “Meanwhile,” shows things happening at the same time.
- “Nevertheless,” shows contrast or “in spite of” a previous point.
- “Consequently,” shows a result or outcome. Only “Consequently,” matches the cause-and-effect relationship between the analyses and the team’s new focus, so the correct answer is “Consequently,”.