The A2 Key open cloze gives you a short text with gaps and no word list. Almost every answer is a small grammar word: a, the, in, at, was, have, it, his. One word only, spelled correctly. This page shows you how to name the missing word type before you write anything.
You need to know who the people are and when the events happened, because that decides between is and was, his and her.
Say to yourself: this gap needs a preposition, or this gap needs an auxiliary. Almost every answer is an article, preposition, pronoun, auxiliary or a word like and, but, because.
The word after the gap usually decides it. ‘___ Saturday’ takes on; ‘___ the morning’ takes in; ‘___ eight o’clock’ takes at.
Yesterday, last week and ago force the past. Every day and usually force the present. Find the time word before you choose between was and is.
A gap at the start of a question is usually do, does, did, is, are or a question word. A gap before a base verb is often an auxiliary.
One word per gap. If your answer needs two words, it is the wrong answer; find the single word that does the same job.
Cloze answers sound right or wrong. Saying the full sentence in your head catches half your errors.
A correct word spelled wrongly scores nothing. Spend the last half-minute checking because, their, friend and people.
Not thisI went to school on the Monday.
ThisI went to school on Monday.
Days of the week do not take the. Adding an article where English does not use one is the most common cloze error.
Not thisShe didn’t went to the party.
ThisShe didn’t go to the party.
After did or didn’t the main verb is the base form. Cloze gaps often sit exactly at this join.
Not thisMy sister lost her bag. He was very upset.
ThisMy sister lost her bag. She was very upset.
Pronouns must match the person already mentioned. Read back one sentence before you choose one.
Not thisWriting ‘a lot of’ in a one-word gap.
ThisWriting one word, such as many or much.
The task allows one word only, so a three-word phrase is marked wrong even if the meaning is right.
Not thisThere is a lot of peoples in the square.
ThisThere are a lot of people in the square.
People is already plural and takes are. This pair appears in cloze texts about towns and festivals all the time.
Not thisWe have been there in 2020.
ThisWe went there in 2020.
A finished past time takes the past simple. Present perfect does not go with a date.
Not thisI live here since two years.
ThisI have lived here for two years.
For goes with a length of time and since with a starting point, and the verb has to change with them.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
1Complete the sentence.
2Complete the sentence.
4Complete the sentence.
5Complete the sentence.
8Complete the sentence.
9Complete the sentence.
10Explain in one sentence what you should do before writing any word in a cloze gap.
One good answer
I decide what type of word the gap needs — article, preposition, pronoun or auxiliary — and then look at the word straight after the gap to choose it.
11Complete the sentence.
13Complete the sentence.
14Complete the sentence.
17Complete the sentence.
19Complete the sentence.
20Write one sentence explaining why you should read the whole text before filling the gaps.
One good answer
The rest of the text tells me whether the story is in the past or the present and who the people are, and that decides between was and is, or his and her.
21Complete the sentence.
23Complete the sentence.
24Complete the sentence.
26Complete the sentence.
27Complete the sentence.
29Complete the sentence.
31Complete the sentence.
32Complete the sentence.
34Complete the sentence.
35Complete the sentence.
38Complete the sentence.
39Complete the sentence.
40Explain in one or two sentences how you check a cloze answer before moving on.
One good answer
I read the whole sentence in my head with my word in the gap; if it sounds wrong, or if I have written two words, I change it before I go to the next gap.
Note
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Follow the instructions on the paper. If it asks for one word, write one word only — a contraction is safer than trying to split ‘do not’ over a single gap.
Use a the first time you mention something, and the afterwards, or when there is only one of it: ‘I bought a coat. The coat was blue.’
Yes, completely. The grammar words in this task are short and common, so an examiner expects them to be spelled correctly.
Prepositions of time and place, articles, auxiliaries, pronouns and linking words. Revising those five groups covers most of what this task can ask.
Take any short text at your level, cover every tenth word with a pencil mark and fill the gaps the next day. Doing it with your own texts trains the same skill.