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 27Book 3 · Section 2 · 27 / 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 27
EXERCISE TEXT

Doctor Watson found it pleasant to be once more in Sherlock Holmes's office, where so many unusual adventures 1 their beginning. He looked around at everything in the room and at last his eyes 2 back to the bright, smiling face of Billy. “There 3 to be any change here, Billy. And you 4 either. I hope you can say the same for him?” Billy threw a worried look at the closed door of the bedroom. “I think he is asleep,” he said.

Gap 1
Gap 2
Gap 3
Gap 4