SAT Reading and Writing Practice Test

However signals a shift to contrast with what was claimed earlier. It tells the reader to expect that the next part refines, challenges, or offsets the previous idea rather than simply adding more of the same information. For example, after a claim about a policy’s benefits, a sentence starting with however would introduce the drawbacks or caveats that temper that claim. This is why the best choice describes it as signaling a contrast between two ideas. It wouldn’t be used to add a new example, to emphasize agreement, or to present a result that remains the same as before, since those functions align with different transitional words or no transition at all.