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Question

Difficulty: MediumSentence-Level Transitions

In 1964, radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were troubled by a persistent, low-frequency hum coming from their antenna at Bell Labs. Instead, they meticulously cleaned the horn-shaped telescope and evicted a pair of nesting pigeons to eliminate any local interference.

Which choice best establishes a logical relationship between this sentence and the preceding one?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. B
    , consequently, they
  3. Consequently, theyAnswer
  4. D
    Furthermore, they

Answer

The correct answer is the option that replaces the underlined text with 'Consequently, they', which establishes a cause-and-effect relationship and maintains proper punctuation.
The correct answer is the choice that uses 'Consequently, they'. The context shows that the scientists cleaned their antenna as a direct result of being troubled by the low-frequency hum, which requires a cause-and-effect transition. Punctuation-wise, starting a new sentence with 'Consequently' is grammatically correct.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the logical connection between the first sentence (the scientists are troubled by a hum) and the second sentence (they clean the telescope and evict pigeons).
The cleaning of the telescope is a direct action taken to solve the problem of the hum. This indicates a cause-and-effect relationship.
Identifying the relationship tells us what kind of transition word is needed.
2
Evaluate the transitions in the options to see which matches the cause-and-effect relationship.
'Consequently' indicates cause-and-effect, while 'Instead' shows contrast/substitution and 'Furthermore' shows addition.
Eliminating incorrect relationship categories narrows down the choices.
3
Check the remaining options for proper punctuation and sentence structure.
The option with ', consequently, they' creates a comma splice because 'consequently' is a conjunctive adverb and cannot connect two independent clauses with only a comma. The option starting with a capitalized 'Consequently' begins a new sentence correctly.
Standard English conventions require independent clauses to be separated by a period or semicolon when using conjunctive adverbs.

Key Concept

Sentence-Level Transitions
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Topics

Sentence-Level Transitions

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