The trickiest SAT/ACT transition questions

When transition questions are discussed in regard to SAT Writing/ACT English, they tend to be covered in two main forms.   The first  way involves a transition placed after a comma in the middle of a sentence.   Version #1:  The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in 1519 brought the fragrant vanilla flower—and its companion, cacao—to Europe.  Vanilla was cultivated in botanical gardens in France and England,  but  growers were unable to collect its glorious  seeds.    Here, the transition  but is placed halfway through a  sentence and used to connect the two halves of that sentence.   The second way involves transitions between sentences (or occasionally two parts of a sentence separated by a semicolon). Version #2: The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in 1519 brought the fragrant vanilla flower—and its companion, cacao—to Europe. Vanilla was cultivated in botanical gardens in France and England. However,  (or: England; however,)  growers were unable to collect its glorious seeds. In the sentence above, the transition however is used at the beginning of a sentence to  indicate the contrasting relationship between that sentence and the previous sentence.   So far  pretty straightforward, right?   There is, however,  another way in which the second version of the  sentence can be written.   Version #3:  The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in 1519 brought the fragrant vanilla flower—and its companion, cacao—to Europe. Vanilla was cultivated in botanical gardens in France and England. Growers were unable, however,  to collect its glorious seeds. Although this version of the  sentence places the transition halfway through the last sentence, it is actually  identical in meaning to  version #2. The  transition has simply been moved from the beginning of the sentence to the middle. Its purpose is still  to convey the relationship between the last sentence and the previous sentence; it does  not  connect the two halves of the sentence in which it appears. When  many  test-takers see this type of question, however,  they do not realize that they need to look back at the previous sentence to determine the relationship. As a result, they either plug in each answer choice  into the sentence and then become confused when they are  unable to determine the answer or, worse, sit and stare at the question.   So how do you tell when an underlined transition in the middle of a sentence is being used to connect two halves of a sentence, or to connect one sentence to the previous sentence?   The  shortcut is to look at the commas around the transition.   Transitions that come after a  single comma are connecting two halves of a sentence.   In contrast, transitions that are surround by  two commas one before, one after are connecting a sentence to the previous sentence.   And if  youd like the technical explanation, here goes: Transitions that follow a comma only  are called  coordinating conjunctions, also known as  FANBOYS conjunctions (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So). These conjunctions serve to join two  independent clauses (complete sentences) into a compound sentence, as in version #1 above. In formal English, these conjunctions should not be used to begin a sentence that is, they should not follow a period or semicolon. Transitions used to begin sentences  are known as  conjunctive adverbs. Common examples include  however,  therefore,  furthermore, indeed,  and  similarly. The purpose of these transitions is to indicate the relationship between one sentence and the previous sentence. Usually, these transitions appear at the beginning of a sentence or clause that is, after a period or semicolon.  Sometimes, however, writers move them to the middle of a sentence for the sake of stylistic variety, as in version #3.  In such  cases, these transitions are  used  non-essentially that is, they are placed in between two commas. To reiterate: only the placement of the transition changes, not the purpose. To determine whether the transition is correct, you must look back at the  previous sentence and determine its relationship (continue, contrast, cause-and-effect) with the sentence in which the underlined transition appears.   Now lets look at a test-style example: Despite their iconic look and their important role in Dutch history, wooden clogs are now mostly made for tourists  rather than for  everyday wear. The 300,000 pair of shoes made every year  are, however, sold  mostly to foreign buyers. A)  NO CHANGE B)  ironically   C)  in  fact   D)  meanwhile The fact that the underlined transition is surrounded by commas indicates that it is necessary to look at the previous sentence to determine the relationship.   What does the previous sentence tell us? That clogs are mostly made for tourists.   What does the sentence in which the transition appears indicates? That most of the clogs made each year are sold to foreign buyers (i.e. tourists).   Are those similar ideas or different ideas? Similar.   So the correct transition must convey a similar relationship. The only option that fits is C),  in fact, because that phrase is used to emphasize a preceding statement.