Identify the pattern in the following letter series and find the missing term.…

Concept: A three-letter alphabet series like this one is often built from two interleaved sequences running in parallel: a single letter that shifts by a fixed number of alphabet positions from term to term, and a letter-pair that shifts by its own fixed number of positions. Solving it means separating the two sequences, extending each on its own, and then recombining them for the missing term.

1. Isolate the first letter of each term: S, T, U, _, W. These move forward by exactly one alphabet position each time (S to T to U to V to W), so the missing first letter is V.

2. Isolate the remaining two-letter pair of each term: CD, EF, GH, _, KL. These move forward by exactly two alphabet positions each time (CD to EF to GH to IJ to KL), so the missing pair is IJ.

3. Combine the two results: V (first letter) + IJ (pair) = VIJ, the complete missing term.

Cross-check: verify the result against the next given term, WKL. The first letter goes from V to W, one position ahead, matching the one-step pattern; the pair goes from IJ to KL, two positions ahead, matching the two-step pattern. Both sequences stay consistent, confirming VIJ is correct.