A transition question tests how the sentence with the blank connects to earlier ideas. Cover the choices and shrink the linked ideas, keeping competing explanations separate. Ask what the new sentence does to each explanation, then name the link’s job in plain words. Your prediction should describe what the whole sentence adds, not what one nearby word suggests. Test each transition’s plain meaning, because a word can sound smooth without showing the right link between ideas.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with the two explanations for the plateau. What would you need to check to tell them apart?
- Hint 2
Match each part of the last sentence to an explanation. What do solvent along the interfaces and pieces remaining dispersed tell you about the two possibilities?
Step-by-step
Compare the explanations with the finding
Step 1Shrink the competing explanations
The words This plateau admitted two explanations: give two possible reasons why extra cuts stopped helping. Cover the choices and shrink those reasons to find what the final observation adds. One says solvent access to the interfaces had ceased to limit separation, meaning reaching the layers no longer sets the speed. The other says the tiniest pieces were clumping, which would hide exposed edges from the solvent. The explanations differ on whether solvent access is still a problem.
- Step 2
Use both parts of the microscopy finding
What does the microscopy show about those possibilities? Solvent was along nearly every interface, and the pieces remained dispersed, meaning they stayed separate rather than clumping. The first detail shows that solvent reached the places where the layers meet, while the second directly works against clumping as the reason further cuts failed. Together, they support the explanation that solvent access no longer controls the speed, without showing what now limits separation. The finding matters because it helps decide between the explanations.
- Step 3
Test what each transition claims
Consequently means as a result, so it would make the final finding a result of the proposed explanations. For example would introduce a case of what came before, while Meanwhile would place events at the same time. Those meanings miss the role of evidence that tests the explanations. Crucially means importantly, especially for deciding something, which marks why this observation deserves attention. Choice C.