TRUCS I CONSELLSOpen Cloze

Work out the word class

First, decide what kind of word is missing. A singular noun with nothing before it may need 'a' or 'the'; a verb without a subject may need 'it' or 'there'; two clauses with no link may need 'which', 'while' or 'although'.

One word, never a contraction

Every answer is a single word. Contractions such as 'don't' or 'we've' count as two words, so they're never correct, while 'cannot', written as one word, is fine. If only a contraction seems to fit, look at the sentence again.

Spell it correctly

You only get the mark if the word is spelled correctly, although punctuation slips don't matter. Take extra care with pairs that learners often mix up: 'their' and 'there', 'than' and 'then', 'whose' and 'who's', 'its' and 'it's'.

Read beyond the sentence

Some gaps depend on ideas further back or further on. A linker like 'however' or 'therefore' depends on the previous sentence, and a pronoun must match a noun that may be several lines back. Read around the gap, not just beside it.

Spot the fixed phrase

Many gaps sit inside expressions that never change: 'as soon as', 'in addition to', 'no matter how', 'by no means', 'on behalf of'. When you recognise part of a familiar phrase, the missing word is usually its other half.

Give one answer only

Occasionally more than one word fits, and every correct word is accepted. Even so, write just one. In the exam, putting two alternatives in the same gap loses the mark if either of them is wrong.

Strategy

1. 1Go through the title and passage once without filling anything in, to get the topic and the tone.
2. 2Look at the example (0) to see the kind of word the task expects.
3. 3For each gap, read the whole sentence and decide which word class is missing.
4. 4Check the words just before and after the gap for clues such as a verb that needs a preposition, a missing auxiliary or half of a fixed phrase.
5. 5Write one word only, spelled correctly, and never a contraction.
6. 6Skip a gap that blocks you and come back once the rest of the text has given you more context.
7. 7Read the finished text from start to end, watching especially for missing negatives, plurals and linkers.