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

Cloze test

Choose a separate exercise.

40 exercises
Exercise 32Book 3 · Section 2 · 32 / 40
Before you practise

Rules, examples, common traps and a checklist for this section.

Study this section
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 32
EXERCISE TEXT

Why are there so many different flags? you 1ask. Well, first let's see why people 2usingflags. In earlier centuries certain groups of people 3 decorated spears and decorated staff which showed their cultural symbols. Later people also used ribbons, leather or silk decorations on the spears to distinguish their group from another group. The early explorers always put crosses or sculptures up when they landed on unknown land, but later they used flags to proclaim their presence or show the sovereignty. Every country has got a specific flag as their national symbol. The first flags 4in the 18th century to tell others that they own of a piece ofland (proclaim a possession) and that they rule over the people and land (sovereignty).

Gap 1
Gap 2
Gap 3
Gap 4