e· ExamHubENGLISH WORKBOOK TRAINER
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SECTION 02 · Gaps in a connected text

Cloze test

Choose a separate exercise.

40 exercises
Exercise 18Book 3 · Section 2 · 18 / 40
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 18
EXERCISE TEXT

The demand for prison reforms 1 steadily recently as more and more people have come to see that locking people up in prison 2 crime. Prisons are isolated places, where prisoners 3 from other criminals, and where bullying, bribery and other forms of corruption spread. So, new legislation 4to be passed to change the system, and while the slow processes of bureaucracy go on, more and more lives 5.

Gap 1
Gap 2
Gap 3
Gap 4
Gap 5