Question 52·Easy·Transitions
Many marine animals migrate vertically each day, swimming toward the surface at night to feed on plankton. _____ they descend back into deeper, darker waters to avoid predators as daylight returns.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For transition questions, always read at least one sentence before and after the blank, then label the relationship between them: contrast, continuation/similarity, cause-and-effect, example, or time/sequence. Next, quickly match each answer choice to its usual function (for example, "nevertheless" = contrast, "consequently" = result, words like "then" or "later" = time order) and eliminate any that don’t match your labeled relationship. This systematic approach lets you decide based on logic instead of guessing from word sound alone.
Hints
Check what changes from the first sentence to the second
Ask yourself: Is the second sentence disagreeing with the first, repeating a similar idea, giving a result, or just describing a different part of the animals’ daily pattern?
Focus on time words in the sentences
Pay close attention to the phrases "at night" and "as daylight returns." How does this help you understand the connection between the two actions?
Match each option to the type of connection
Decide which choices suggest contrast, which suggest similarity, which suggest cause-and-effect, and which one simply helps move the description to another point in time.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the relationship between the two sentences
Read both sentences together:
- First: many marine animals swim toward the surface at night to feed.
- Second: they descend back into deeper waters as daylight returns to avoid predators.
These are two actions by the same animals that happen at different times of day as part of a repeating pattern. The key relationship is what happens at one time and then what happens at another time.
Identify what kind of transition is needed
Ask: Does the second sentence
- Contradict or oppose the first idea?
- Present a similar or parallel idea?
- Show a result or outcome?
- Or simply describe the next part of the daily routine?
Here, the second sentence does not disagree with or correct the first; it just tells what these animals do at another time of day. That means the transition should mark a shift in time, not contrast, similarity, or cause-and-effect.
Review what each option usually signals
Now match each transition word to the relationship it normally shows:
- Nevertheless, = contrast or “in spite of that.”
- Likewise, = similarity, “in the same way.”
- Consequently, = result or “as a result.”
- Later, = a different time, usually a following time in a sequence.
Only one of these clearly marks a simple move to another point in time in a routine.
Choose the transition that matches a time sequence
Because the second sentence describes what the animals do at another time of day in their daily migration (after coming to the surface at night, they go back down when daylight returns), the transition must show this later point in time.
The only choice that signals this time sequence is D) Later, so D is correct.