e· ExamHubENGLISH WORKBOOK TRAINER
All books› Book 3› Section 2
SECTION 02 · Gaps in a connected text

Cloze test

Choose a separate exercise.

40 exercises
Exercise 23Book 3 · Section 2 · 23 / 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 23
EXERCISE TEXT

The next morning, when I awoke, the sun 1 brilliantly. It was late and I 2 no supper the night before, so I dressed quickly and went downstairs. I 3 to find the doors locked and the house empty. A dozen times or more I called out my host's name, but the house was as still as the grave. At last, however, I 4 footsteps, and soon my host appeared, looking rather strange. He had just gone out, he said, to feed the horses. I noticed thick and wet mud upon his shoes but I 5 ask him why he wanted to deceive me.

Gap 1
Gap 2
Gap 3
Gap 4
Gap 5