In this task, you are given two sentences in the English language (Sentence 1 and Sentence 2). Your task is to identify the connecting word between the two sentences.

[EX Q]: Sentence 1:Lauren said that Andy 's happiness was her only concern . Sentence 2:Then , Gary called to inform Lauren that a new letter regarding Farren had arrived .
[EX A]: then

[EX Q]: Sentence 1:Debt Like Compensation - If an executive is compensated exclusively with equity , he will take risks to benefit shareholders at the expense of debtholders . Sentence 2:Thus , there are several proposals to compensate executives with debt as well as equity , to mitigate their risk - shifting tendencies .
[EX A]: thus

[EX Q]: Sentence 1:Nickelodeon was a failure and continually lost money due to weak advertising sales and its inability to compete against its more successful rival , Der Kinderkanal . Sentence 2:As a result , Nickelodeon closed on 31 May 1998 .
[EX A]:
as a result