Bridging is a relation of a noun in the text to another noun. This relation is not expressed explicitly, but humans reconstruct it unconsciously as they read.
For example:
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(1) I entered the room. The ceiling was high. | ✔ |
In (1) the relation between the ceiling and the room is not explicitly mentioned in the text. However, we understand that the ceiling refers to the ceiling [of the room]
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The word room here is the complement of the word ceiling . Without the complement the word ceiling feels incomplete (because a ceiling does not exist on its own; it has to be a part of some room). Therefore, we will call such words incomplete expressions .
We can make these relations explicit using prepositions (of, in, for etc.). Optionally, we can also add an article (the, a, an) before the second noun. The resulting sentence will look like this:
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(2) I entered the room. The ceiling [of the room] was high. | ✔ |
Click here to see more examples of bridging
1. The manuscript described a new system for classifying plants. When Gronovius saw it, he was very impressed, and offered to help pay for the printing.
Complete expression: printing [of the manuscript]
2. The Ingleton branch line was a rural railway line in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Westmorland in England (now North Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria). It was originally planned in 1846 to form part of a main line route from London to Scotland, but fell victim to rivalry between railway companies. Completion was delayed until 1861, and it was only ever a rural branch line, serving the towns of Ingleton, Kirkby Lonsdale and Sedbergh. It closed to passengers in 1954 and was dismantled in 1967.
Complete expression: completion [of the Ingleton branch line] or: completion [of the line]
3. Linnaeus quickly discovered the specimen was a fake cobbled together from the jaws and paws of weasels and the skins of snakes.
Complete expression: jaws [of weasels]
Note: in bridging relations, the incomplete expression and its complement are related but do not refer to the same thing!
Consider the difference between the following examples:
(3a) The car was stolen. Fortunatelly, the police located the vehicle within seconds. | ✘ |
(3b) The car was stolen. The police located the wheels within a day. | ✔ |
In (3a) the words car and vehicle refer to the same entity. This is not a bridging relation.
In contrast, in (3b) the words car and wheels are related but do not refer to the same entity. This is a bridging relation. The word wheels is the incomplete expression and the word car is the complement. The complete expression is "the wheels [of the car]".
Click here to see more examples of such non-bridging relations
1. Triple Trouble is a 1950 comedy film directed by Jean Yarbrough and starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on August 13, 1950 by Monogram Pictures.
"Triple Trouble" and "film" do not form a bridging relation, because they refer to the same thing.
2. The memoir's author uses the pseudonym Humbert Humbert to refer to himself in the manuscript. Humbert begins the memoir with his Parisian childhood and ends it with his incarceration.
"Author" and "Humbert" do not form a bridging relation, because they refer to the same person.
3. Voice cloning is a deep-learning algorithm that takes in voice recordings of an individual and is able to synthesize a voice is very similar to the original voice. Similar to deepfakes, there are numerous apps, such as LyreBird, iSpeech, and CereVoice Me, that gives the public access to such technology.
"Voice cloning" and "technology" do not form a bridging relation, because they refer to the same thing.
Finally, let's consider some contrasting examples:
(4) The car was stolen. The police located the engine a few days later. | ✔ |
This is an incomplete expression. The complete expression is "the engine [of the car]".
(5) The car was stolen. The police located the vehicle's engine in an alley a few days later. | ✘ |
The expression (the vehicle's) engine here is not incomplete, because the sentence explicitly states which engine we are talking about (of the vehicle = of the car).
(6) The car was stolen. The police located its engine in an alley a few days later. | ✘ |
The expression (its) engine here is not incomplete: again, the sentence explicitly states which engine we are talking about ("its" is just like "of the vehicle").
Sometimes we can find multiple complements for an incomplete expression. For example:
(7) I spent a wonderful weekend in Paris. I walked through its streets and enjoyed the view. | ✔ |
Here both "the views [of Paris]" and "the views [of the streets]" would be correct.
Note that sometimes the complement (or complements) cannot be found in the text. But our world knowledge and/or the context allow us to "reconstruct" it. For example:
(8) Trump has threatened to seal off the entire southern border. | ✔ |
Our world knowledge allows us to complement the word border as "the border [of the United States].
In this task you will have to:
Now let's see where to look for complements.
1. The complement can be near or far from the incomplete expression (even in another paragraph). For example:
(9) Prior to forming his own Madison-based company in 1985, John was a producer at CBS and ABC in Chicago for six years. His credits include six Chicago Emmys, a National Iris Award for Best Television Special and a national CableACE nomination. He received the Peter Lisagor Award for Special News Production, plus recognition from the Organization of American Women in TV and Radio for his documentary work. | ✔ |
Complete expression: accolades [for John]
Click here to see more examples of complements in other paragraphs
1. Maldives is a presidential republic, with extensive influence of the president as head of government and head of state. The president heads the executive branch, acts at the same time as minister of defence and appoints the cabinet which is approved by the People's Majlis (Parliament). He leads police, army, coast guards, fire brigade and judiciary. There is no separation of powers. The current president as of 17 November 2018 is Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Members of the unicameral Majlis serve five-year terms, with the total number of members determined by atoll populations. At the 2014 election, 77 members were elected. The People's Majlis, located in Male, houses members from all over the country.
The republican constitution came into force in 1968, and was amended in 1970, 1972, and 1975.
Complete expression: constitution [of Maldives]
2. The complement can be before or after the incomplete expression:
(10) M. Pagnol could not find any birth certificate in the Jersey archives. He therefore concluded that James was not born on the island, and that he did not belong to the Carteret family. | ✔ |
Complete expression: birth certificate [of James]
Click here to see more examples of complements that appear after the incomplete expression
1. As the idea of institutional care gained acceptance, formal rules appeared about how to place children into families.
Complete expression: care [for children]
2. A personal name is the set of names by which an individual is known.
Complete expression: name [of an individual]
3. Sleep has a complex, and as of yet not fully elucidated, relationship with mood. Most commonly if a person is sleep deprived he/she will become more irritable, angry, more prone to stress, and less energized throughout the day.
Complete expression: sleep [of a person]
3. Sometimes the complement is not in the text that is shown to you, but you know what it is based on your common sense and world knowledge. For example:
(11) Lisa discovers that kids' "play dates" can be as troublesome as adult dating when the mother of Tess's new friend, Corrine, causes nothing but problems, almost ruining the little girls' friendship. Meanwhile, Kevin and Lisa clash when Kevin realizes the only way his assistant coach, Brick, will get a raise is if Kevin pays him out of his own pocket. | ✔ |
Complete expression: raise [in the salary]
The complement (salary) is not mentioned in the text, but you can complement the incomplete expression (raise) from your general knowledge of the world. In such cases you have to select "Other - specify or highlight" and then type your complement in a special window.
Click here to see more examples of anchors based on world knowledge
1. The psychologists Yuval Palgi and Dov Shmotkin (2009) studied people who were primarily in their nineties. This subject group was found to have thought highly of their past and present. But generally, the group thought lower of their future. These people knew that the end was near and so were not quite as hopeful for the future.
Complete expression: end [of life].
2. Beginning in 1873 Augusta attended the MMS in Dordrecht, probably while living in a boarding house. The whole family moved to Haarlem in 1875 because her father temporarily stepped down from his position (for health reasons, it seems).
Complete expression: position [at work].
4. Finally, sometimes the complement is not in the text shown to you and you don't know what it is: you have not been given enough context. For example:
(12) The oldest section has been dated back to the later part of the 12th century. One researcher, Berit Wallenberg, claims it was built as early as the 11th century. | ✔ |
You understand that expression section is incomplete (this word does not make sense on its own; a section has to be of something), but you just don't have enough context to complement it. For such cases in this task you will have a special button that says:"Don't know, need more context".
Click here to see more examples of bridging that cannot be resolved because of lack of context
1. Usually, the virus is spread through the air from coughs or sneezes. This is believed to occur mostly over relatively short distances. It can also be spread by touching surfaces contaminated by the virus and then touching the mouth or eyes. A person may be infectious to others both before and during the time they are showing symptoms.
The expression "virus" is incomplete, but we do not have enough context to complement it.
2. The reasons are unknown, once again fueling different speculations.
The expression "reasons" is incomplete, but we have not been given enough context to complement it.
1. Sometimes, when you choose a complement from the text, there are two or more words that sound right. In such cases you should choose the option that is correct in this particular context. For example:
(13) The car was stolen. The police located the engine a few days later. One week later another vehicle was stolen. |
Which word, do you think is the correct complement for the word engine here: car or vehicle? Generally, both could apply, because an engine can be a part of any car/vehicle. But in this context the engine belongs to the car from the first sentence, not to the vehicle from the second sentence.
2. If there are multiple complements and all of them sound right in this particular context, select all of them. For example:
(14) She was wearing a mauve dress and matching shoes. I really liked the color. |
Here the word color means both "the color [of the dress]" and "the color [of the shoes]". So we need to select both.
4. However, if two or more complements refer to the same object, choose only one of them, the one that is closest to the incomplete expression. For example:
(15) Tourists from all over the world come to Buenos Aires to enjoy the diverse range of live music venues. The city has amazing night life. |
Here both Buenos Aires and the city are correct. But they refer to the same thing. So we will choose only one of them. "Venues [of the city]" is preferable to "venues [of Buenos Aires]" because it is closer to the incomplete expression "venues".
5. If there are several possible complements, but you are not sure which one is correct in this context, do not select any of them. For example:
(16) A new car and a truck were stolen last week. The police located the engine a few days later. |
From the context of this sentence it's not clear whether the engine belongs to the truck or to the car. So we should not select either of those words.
Short summary of the rules (click to open)
Important notes: