Transitions at the 700-800 Level

Easy transition items ask you to tell contrast from cause. Hard-tier items make you distinguish within a family — Indeed vs. In fact vs. Sure enough; Nevertheless vs. Even so vs. However — or recognize rarer moves that generic thinking cannot handle: Rather (substituted explanation after a denial), After all (justification for the claim just made), At best (ceiling on a claim), If so (conditional inference), In such cases (conditional trigger).

The four engineered traps:

• The skim trap — Furthermore offered where the new fact comes from the same source but cuts against the party just described; classify the fact's direction, not its origin.
• The reversed arrow — Consequently where Even so belongs: did the first fact produce the second, or did the second happen despite the first?
• The fake parallel — Likewise when two parties do the same kind of thing from opposite bases; the shared verb is bait.
• The denial setup — a negated sentence ('was not sentimental') is neither obstacle nor cause; it clears ground for Rather.

The winning method: state the relationship between the flanking sentences in your own words before reading the options, then match. Option-first reading makes every near-miss family sound interchangeable.