e· ExamHubENGLISH WORKBOOK TRAINER
All books› Book 1› Section 2
SECTION 02 · Gaps in a connected text

Cloze test

Choose a separate exercise.

70 exercises
Exercise 5Book 1 · Section 2 · 5 / 70
How to solve: Cloze testA connected text with numbered gaps; choose a, b, c or d for each gap.

What it tests

Grammar in context: tenses and their sequence, modal verbs, linking words, verb patterns and fixed phrases.

In the exam: part II, 17 tasks.

Step by step

  1. Read the whole paragraph first — the time frame (past, present, future) is often set by the sentences around the gap.
  2. Look at what comes right before and after the gap: a subject, an auxiliary, a preposition, “to”…
  3. Decide what kind of word fits (verb form, linking word, preposition) before looking at the options.
  4. Check time signals: ago, since, by the time, already, while, tomorrow.
  5. Read the sentence again with your answer — it must sound complete and logical.

Watch out for

  • Choosing a tense from the sentence alone when the paragraph is clearly in the past.
  • Mixing up similar forms: had done / has done / did, to do / doing.
  • Linking words with opposite meaning: because / although, so / but.

Example

By the time we arrived, the film (1)____. a) has started b) had started c) starts d) was starting

b) had started — “by the time we arrived” marks a past moment; the film started before it, so we need the past perfect.

Exercise 5
EXERCISE TEXT

Scientists have announced that the layer of ice covering the Arctic Ocean has shrunk to an all-time low record. What's more, they say the ice 1 disappear altogether in future summers. The area of ice recorded on August 26 2 just over four million square kilometers, which is 70,000 square kilometers less than the previous low in 2007. Experts said that record was a one-off and 3 not be repeated. However, conditions 4 quickly. The USA's National Snow and Ice Data Center said: “The ice cover 5 now just so thin and weak in the springtime that large parts of it can't survive the melt season.

Gap 1
Gap 2
Gap 3
Gap 4
Gap 5