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Digital SAT Transition Words Practice

Total questions: 14

Worksheet time: 21mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

Organisms have evolved a number of surprising adaptations to ensure their survival in adverse conditions. Tadpole shrimp (Triops longicaudatus) embryos, ______ can pause development for over ten years during extended periods of drought.

a)

in contrast,

b)

for example,

c)

meanwhile,

d)

consequently,

2.

In 1933, the Twentieth Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. The amendment mandates that presidential inaugurations be held on January 20, approximately ten weeks after the November election. ________ this amendment requires newly elected US senators and representatives to be sworn into their respective offices on January 3.

a)

Instead,

b)

For instance,

c)

Specifically,

d)

In addition,

3.

At two weeks old, the time their critical socialization period begins, wolves can smell but cannot yet see or hear. Domesticated dogs, _______ can see, hear, and smell by the end of two weeks. This relative lack of sensory input may help explain why wolves behave so differently around humans than dogs do: from a very young age, wolves are more wary and less exploratory.

a)

in other words,

b)

for instance,

c)

by contrast,

d)

accordingly,

4.

Most conifers (trees belonging to the phylum Coniferophyta) are evergreen. That is, they keep their green leaves or needles year-round. However, not all conifer species are evergreen. Larch trees, ________ lose their needles every fall.

a)

for instance,

b)

nevertheless,

c)

meanwhile,

d)

in addition,

5.

Archaeologist Sue Brunning explains why the seventh-century ship burial site at Sutton Hoo in England was likely the tomb of a king. First, the gold artifacts inside the ship suggest that the person buried with them was a wealthy and respected leader. ______ the massive effort required to bury the ship would likely only have been undertaken for a king.

a)

Instead,

b)

Still,

c)

Specifically,

d)

Second,

6.

Researchers Helena Mihaljević-Brandt, Lucía Santamaría, and Marco Tullney report that while mathematicians may have traditionally worked alone, evidence points to a shift in the opposite direction. ______ mathematicians are choosing to collaborate with their peers—a trend illustrated by a rise in the number of mathematics publications credited to multiple authors.

a)

Similarly,

b)

For this reason,

c)

Furthermore,

d)

Increasingly,

7.

In her poetry collection Thomas and Beulah, Rita Dove interweaves the titular characters’ personal stories with broader historical narratives. She places Thomas’s journey from the American South to the Midwest in the early 1900s within the larger context of the Great Migration. ______ Dove sets events from Beulah’s personal life against the backdrop of the US Civil Rights Movement.

a)

Specifically,

b)

Thus,

c)

Regardless,

d)

Similarly,

8.

During a 2021 launch, Rocket Labs’ Electron rocket experienced an unexpected failure: its second-stage booster shut down suddenly after ignition. ________ instead of downplaying the incident, Rocket Labs’ CEO publicly acknowledged what happened and apologized for the loss of the rocket’s payload, which had consisted of two satellites.

a)

Afterward,

b)

Additionally,

c)

Indeed,

d)

Similarly,

9.

In retrospect, one of the lessons of the 2003 Human Genome Project is that a gene is affected by many factors, not the least of which is its interactions with the protein products of other genes. _______ rather than just focusing on the human genome, efforts to better understand gene mutations related to disease have begun to consider the human proteome, the complete set of proteins expressed by human genes.

a)

In other words,

b)

That said,

c)

For example,

d)

Accordingly,

10.

The liquid metals in Earth’s core circulate constantly, and this circulation generates electrical currents that flow between Earth’s North and South magnetic poles. These electrical currents, ________ create a barrier around Earth that protects us from radiation and charged particles coming from space.

a)

in turn,

b)

likewise,

c)

nevertheless,

d)

in reality,

11.

Chromosomes occasionally shatter and reform imperfectly, producing alterations that are passed down to daughter cells during mitosis. ____ this flawed reassembly likely plays a major role in the growth of tumors, studying the proteins responsible for this imprecise process may hold clues as to how cancer develops and spreads.

a)

While

b)

Although

c)

As

d)

Before

12.

Geraldine Brooks’ novel March imagines the experiences of American Civil War chaplain Mr. March—the absent father of the Little Women protagonists Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March. This creative “parallel novel” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2006, ____ making Brooks the first Australian to win the prize.

a)

eventually

b)

comparatively

c)

formerly

d)

consequently

13.

Black Elk Speaks relates the story of the Oglala Lakota medicine man Black Elk, as told to the poet John G. Neihardt. Neihardt was a non-Native relating Black Elk’s story to a non-Native audience; ____ the book changes and omits a number of details in order to appeal to Neihardt’s audience and has been criticized by many Lakota scholars.

a)

as a result,

b)

henceforth,

c)

concurrently,

d)

however,

14.

On La Gomera Island, part of the Canary Islands, the islanders’ primary language of Castilian Spanish is not solely expressed through spoken words but also with whistles, in a language known as Silbo Gomero. ____ the other whistled languages of the Canary Islands, Silbo Gomero has been protected by UNESCO and promoted through educational programs, ensuring one strain of the once-widespread whistling tradition will persist.

a)

Following

b)

Besides

c)

Similarly to

d)

In contrast with