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

Cloze test

Choose a separate exercise.

40 exercises
Exercise 25Book 3 · Section 2 · 25 / 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 25
EXERCISE TEXT

An Englishman and a Scotsman once went on holiday to Ireland. It was the Scotsman's first long journey. When they 1 the train at Heuston Station in Dublin, the Scotsman looked around and said, “Why 2 so many clocks? What a waste of money!” The Englishman didn't know the answer. When he looked at the clocks more closely, he saw that all the clocks 3 different times. “What's the good of having so many clocks,” he said, “if they all tell different times?” The Irish porter who 4 near them, heard this and shouted angrily, “What's the good of having so many nice clocks if they all tell the same time?”

Gap 1
Gap 2
Gap 3
Gap 4