A transition question after a claim tests how the next sentence relates to that claim. Cover the choices and shrink both sentences to their main points. Does the second add to the claim, follow from it, turn against it, or place it in time? When transitions have similar meanings, swap in their plain meanings and test what each says the second sentence does. Similar transitions can name different jobs, so sounding natural isn't enough.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with the sentence that calls the timing patterns opposites and shrink it alongside the full sentence after the blank.
- Hint 2
Check how both parts of the last sentence connect to the earlier claim. How would you describe the link between the sentences?
Step-by-step
Find the direction, then test the exact job
Step 1Shrink the timing claim
The desert plants open their pores mainly at night, while the alpine herb opens them after sunrise. What claim does the transition need to connect to the final sentence? These facts lead the writer to call the timing patterns opposites, so our shortened version is opposite pore-opening schedules.
- Step 2
Find what the final sentence changes
Does the final sentence take back the claim that the schedules are opposite? No: they are opposite only in relation to clock time keeps it true but limits where it applies. Both plants avoid gas exchange when local conditions make it most costly, so their purpose is the same. The sentence sets opposite timing against shared purpose. As a whole, though, it makes the earlier claim more exact.
- Step 3
Test the other meanings
Which meanings fail that link? In other words means to say the same thing another way, but only in relation to clock time adds a limit that the earlier claim didn't state. By contrast sets different cases or points against each other, while this sentence limits what we've already said about the same plants. Consequently means as a result, but opposite schedules don't cause the plants' shared purpose.
- Step 4
Check the exact meaning
Now swap in More precisely, which means to say something more exactly. With that meaning, the next sentence explains exactly how the patterns are opposites: opposite only in relation to clock time, with the same function in both cases. Choice A.