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SECTION 02 · Gaps in a connected text

Cloze test

Choose a separate exercise.

40 exercises
Exercise 29Book 3 · Section 2 · 29 / 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 29
EXERCISE TEXT

The Oxford University or simply Oxford 1 a research university located in Oxford, England. It is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, and the world's second-oldest surviving university. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics 2northeast to Cambridge, where they 3what became the University of Cambridge.

Gap 1
Gap 2
Gap 3