DET Read and Complete: Connectors and Reference

A passage says that a city planted more street trees. The next sentence begins, “How____, summer temperatures remained unusually high.” The missing word is not solved by the fragment alone. The contrast between an intervention and an unexpected result supports However.

That is the narrow focus of this guide: completing connectors and reference words by preserving relationships across a passage. The broader DET Read and Complete word-family guide explains morphology, spelling, and local grammar. Here, the decisive evidence is discourse logic: contrast, result, addition, example, or reference to an earlier noun.

Duolingo’s current official guidance says Read and Complete presents a passage with unfinished words and gives three minutes. It recommends reading the whole passage before concentrating on individual words. That advice is especially important for connectors and reference words, because their meaning often lies outside their own sentence.

Use this guide with the DET vocabulary practice hub and Exam English hub. All passages and questions below are original practice, not live or predicted test material.

Two jobs that look small but control the passage

Connectors tell the reader how one idea relates to another:

• however marks contrast or an unexpected turn;
• therefore introduces a conclusion or result;
• moreover adds a supporting point;
• for example introduces an instance;
• instead replaces an expected or rejected option.

Reference words point back or forward:

• this can refer to a preceding event, claim, or situation;
• these normally requires a plural referent;
• such classifies something as the kind just described;
• former and latter distinguish two previously named items;
• pronouns such as it, they, and which must match a recoverable referent.

A completion must satisfy spelling and grammar, but also preserve the exact relationship established by the passage.

Contrast is not correction

Compare two contexts:

The first trial used a large sample. However, its observation period was short.

The first report gave the wrong date. The event occurred on Tuesday instead.

However allows both propositions to remain true while placing them in tension. Instead replaces one option, action, or account with another. If the second sentence simply limits the first, instead would invent a correction that the passage never makes.

Fragment practice:

The device was inexpensive. How____, it required frequent repairs.

Answer: however. Low cost and frequent repairs are compatible but contrasting evaluations. Nothing is replaced.

Result must follow from stated evidence

Therefore and consequently introduce a conclusion or consequence. Their presence asserts a logical or causal connection.

The path was covered by floodwater. Therefore, the survey team used a different route.

The route change responds to the flooded path. But consider:

The path was covered by floodwater. Meanwhile, the laboratory completed the chemical analysis.

The second event happens during the same period; it is not presented as a result. Choosing therefore merely because the second sentence follows the first would invent causation.

Fragment practice:

All three sensors failed the calibration check. The____, the researchers postponed data collection.

Answer: therefore. The failed check supplies the explicit reason for postponement, and the visible letters support the connector.

Addition must add support, not reverse direction

Moreover and furthermore add a point aligned with the preceding argument. They do not mean “next in time.”

The redesigned bottle uses less plastic. Moreover, it is easier to recycle.

Both facts support the redesign. If the second sentence said the bottle leaked, however would be more coherent because the direction changes.

Fragment practice:

The archive is available without charge. More____, its records can be searched remotely.

Answer: moreover. Remote search adds another accessibility benefit. Nevertheless would wrongly signal that the second benefit holds despite the first.

Reference requires an exact antecedent

Consider:

The team moved the seedlings into a shaded room. This reduced water loss during the hottest hours.

This refers to the preceding action: moving the seedlings. It does not refer to room alone. When a singular demonstrative summarizes an entire proposition, ask whether the resulting meaning is explicit and coherent.

Now compare:

The team measured leaf width and stem height. These were recorded every two days.

The plural these refers to the two measurements. A singular this would require a different reading, such as the combined procedure, and would not naturally serve as the subject of were.

Fragment practice:

Several residents offered tools and spare materials. Th___ contributions allowed the repairs to begin early.

Answer: these. Contributions is plural, and the phrase points back to the tools and materials offered.

Such: same kind, not same object

Such refers to a type just described:

Some coastal plants tolerate high levels of salt. Such species can survive where many crops cannot.

It means species of that kind, not necessarily the identical plants already observed. These species could point more directly to the previously mentioned group. The distinction matters when the passage moves from an example to a broader category.

Fragment practice:

The program prioritizes repairs that prevent immediate safety risks. Su__ work receives funding before cosmetic improvements.

Answer: such. The sentence generalizes about work of the described type.

Former and latter: keep the order visible

When exactly two items have been named, the former refers to the first and the latter to the second.

The study compared printed maps with a navigation app. The former required no battery, while the latter updated routes automatically.

These words reduce repetition, but they also create memory pressure. Write the order mentally: printed maps = 1; app = 2. If more than two candidates intervene, repeating the noun is often clearer in ordinary writing.

Fragment practice:

Participants could submit a recording or attend a live interview. The la____ option allowed immediate follow-up questions.

Answer: latter. A live interview is the second option and permits immediate interaction.

Worked passage

Complete the four fragments.

A neighborhood association converted an unused parking area into a small garden. The plan initially faced objections because the site had little shade. The group, how____, selected plants that tolerate direct sun. It also installed a tank to collect rainwater from a nearby roof. Th___ measures reduced the need for daily watering. More____, volunteers created a weekly schedule for routine care. The garden there____ remained manageable during a particularly dry month.

Answers: however, these, moreover, therefore.

Rationale:

• However contrasts the obstacle with the group’s response; it does not erase the lack of shade.
• These has the plural noun measures and points to plant selection plus rainwater collection.
• Moreover adds another aligned form of support: a care schedule.
• Therefore presents manageability as the result of the combined measures and schedule.

No answer is based only on its first letters. Each restores a relationship the surrounding passage already establishes.

Controlled practice: choose the relation

Choose the completion that preserves the stated logic.

1. The original survey reached only commuters. ______, the researchers ran a second survey among remote workers. (Instead / Moreover)
2. The coating reduced glare. ______, it made the display harder to clean. (However / Therefore)
3. Two entrances were blocked by construction. ______ closures delayed deliveries. (These / This)
4. Electric buses produce no exhaust at the point of use. ______ vehicles can improve air quality along busy routes. (Such / Latter)
5. The soil remained frozen. ______, planting was delayed. (Consequently / Meanwhile)
6. The library extended weekend hours. ______, it added an online booking system. (Furthermore / Nevertheless)

Answers and rationales

1. Instead. The second survey replaces the inadequate coverage strategy rather than merely adding an unrelated benefit.
2. However. The cleaning problem contrasts with the glare benefit.
3. These. The plural determiner agrees with closures and refers to the two blocked entrances.
4. Such. The sentence generalizes about vehicles of the described kind.
5. Consequently. Frozen soil gives the reason for the delay.
6. Furthermore. Both actions expand access; there is no concession.

Boundary cases: when more than one connector could work

In unrestricted writing, several connectors may be grammatical. However and nevertheless can both mark concession; moreover and furthermore strongly overlap. A deterministic exercise must give enough evidence to distinguish the intended relation or accept equivalent answers.

Do not invent a sharp meaning difference where usage overlaps. Use visible letters, punctuation, sentence grammar, and passage logic together. If the fragment begins neverthe_____, discourse logic confirms nevertheless; it does not justify changing the fragment to however even if both could express the relation.

Likewise, punctuation offers evidence but not a complete answer. A comma after the blank may fit several sentence adverbs. First identify the relation, then complete the exact form compatible with the supplied letters.

A passage-first routine

1. Read through the passage without stopping at every fragment.
2. Label the direction around a missing connector: same direction, contrast, result, replacement, or example.
3. For a reference word, underline the candidate antecedent mentally.
4. Check number and grammar: this measure, these measures, it was, they were.
5. Preserve all visible letters and reread the completed passage.

The final reread is essential. A locally possible word may distort the paragraph’s argument or point to the wrong noun.

Common mistakes

• Choosing a connector because it is formal rather than because its relation fits.
• Treating every chronological sequence as cause and result.
• Using instead for a contrast that replaces nothing.
• Matching a pronoun to the nearest noun when the passage points to an entire event.
• Ignoring singular and plural agreement.
• Assuming such means the identical object rather than an object of that kind.
• Completing one sentence before reading the passage’s overall direction.

Final check

Complete the mini-passage:

The museum offered both printed labels and an audio guide. The fo____ could be read at any pace; the la____ included interviews with artists. Some visitors could not use headphones. How____, the museum kept both formats available. Th___ decision preserved two ways to access the same information.

Key: former, latter, therefore, this. Former and latter preserve the order of the two formats. Therefore connects the headphone limitation to the decision to retain both. This decision points back to keeping both formats and agrees with a singular noun.

For fresh passage-level vocabulary practice, try Lyra Practice.

Sources

• Read and Complete — Duolingo English Test Help Center
• Test Structure — Duolingo English Test Help Center

Related

• DET Read and Complete word families
• DET Interactive Reading: connect ideas across the passage
• DET Fill in the Blanks vocabulary in context
• Convey versus imply or suggest

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