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C1 Advanced gapped text: Part 7 cohesion practice

C1Reading & Use of English40 questionsUpdated

In the C1 Advanced gapped text you put paragraphs back into a text, with one extra paragraph that fits nowhere. The answer is decided by cohesion — pronouns, determiners, linkers and time references — and this page trains you to read for exactly those signals.

What this task tests

  • Reference: pronouns and determiners that point back to something named earlier.
  • Substitution: phrases such as ‘the former’, ‘such a claim’ and ‘neither version’.
  • Linkers of contrast, result and addition that must match the logic either side of the gap.
  • Time and sequence markers that fix the order of events.
  • Reading for argument, so you can tell a new stage of the argument from a repetition of it.
  • Recognising when a noun is being introduced for the first time and when it is being referred back to.
  • Tense and aspect shifts that mark background, sequence or a return to the main narrative.
  • Holding a whole text in mind rather than working sentence by sentence.
  • Resisting the distractor paragraph, which is written to look plausible in two places.
  • Working at pace, since this part comes late in a long paper and cannot be rushed at the end.

How to do it

  1. Step 1:

    Number the gaps and note what each one must do

    Beside each gap write two or three words: ‘gives the reason’, ‘introduces two options’, ‘describes what went wrong’. You are turning a matching task into a search with a specification, which is far quicker to satisfy.

  2. Step 2:

    Read the options for their first and last sentences

    The middle of a paragraph rarely decides anything. The opening sentence must connect backwards and the closing sentence forwards, so read those two carefully and skim the rest.

  3. Step 3:

    Trust structural clues over topical ones

    A ‘neither’, a ‘the latter’ or a ‘three years later’ is evidence. A shared topic word is not, because every option shares topic words with the text by design.

  4. Step 4:

    Beware the paragraph that fits two gaps

    If an option seems to work in two places, it is probably the unused one, or your placement of a neighbouring gap is wrong. Check the gap on either side before you commit.

  5. Step 5:

    Read the main text through with the gaps in it

    Do this before you look at the paragraph options. You need the shape of the argument in your head, otherwise every option looks topically plausible and you will choose on vocabulary alone.

  6. Step 6:

    Work on the text either side of the gap, not the options

    Underline the last sentence before the gap and the first sentence after it. Ask what the missing paragraph must end with and what it must begin with. Only then read the options.

  7. Step 7:

    Do the easy gaps first and cross options off

    Every option you place with confidence makes the remaining gaps easier. Leave the two that could go anywhere until last, and never guess early in a way that forces a chain of wrong answers.

  8. Step 8:

    Check with a straight read-through

    With two or three minutes left, read the reconstructed text from the start. A wrongly placed paragraph almost always produces a pronoun with nothing to refer to, or a repeated introduction of the same person or idea.

Mistakes that cost marks

  • Not thisChoosing a paragraph because it mentions the same topic as the text before the gap.

    ThisChoosing a paragraph whose opening and closing sentences link to both sides of the gap.

    All the options are on the topic — that is what makes them distractors. Only cohesion separates them.

  • Not thisFitting the paragraph to the text before the gap only.

    ThisChecking the sentence after the gap as well.

    Half the clues sit after the gap: a ‘neither’, a ‘the latter’, a ‘by then’ that only makes sense if the paragraph supplied two items or a date.

  • Not thisLeaving the unused paragraph until it is the only one left.

    ThisTesting every remaining option against every remaining gap.

    The extra paragraph is written to look like a good fit somewhere. If you never compare, you will place it and displace a correct answer.

  • Not thisPlacing a paragraph that introduces a person by full name after the text has already called her ‘she’.

    ThisPlacing paragraphs so that a person is named first and referred to by pronoun afterwards.

    Texts introduce and then refer back. A full name appearing after a string of pronouns is almost always a sign that the paragraph belongs earlier.

  • Not thisIgnoring a time phrase such as ‘by the following spring’ because it seems like detail.

    ThisUsing the time phrase to fix the paragraph in the sequence.

    Dates and time expressions are the most objective clue in the task. They can rule out three options in seconds.

  • Not thisAnswering the gaps in the order they appear and never revisiting them.

    ThisAnswering the confident gaps first and using elimination for the rest.

    Strict order forces you to guess at the hardest gap while you still have seven options; elimination leaves you guessing between two.

Language this task keeps reusing

the latter
the second of two things just mentioned
the former
the first of two things just mentioned
even so
despite that; a two-word contrast linker
by contrast
used to set one situation against another
such a claim
a claim of that kind; points back to what was just said
in the event
as it turned out; introduces what actually happened
all the same
nevertheless
that, at least
signals an expectation that was not fully met
neither
not one and not the other of two
antecedent
the noun a pronoun refers back to
as a result
because of that; marks consequence
at the time
then, in the period being described
this approach
a summary noun phrase pointing back to a method just described
the other
the second of a pair already mentioned
what followed
the events that came next; points forward in the narrative
far from it
a short denial of what was just suggested

Practice: gapped text

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.

A paragraph before a gap ends: ‘…three separate teams reported the same anomaly.’ Which opening of the missing paragraph links best?

2Add the one-word reference link that fits.

The study was repeated in Oslo, andtime the figures were almost identical.

3Add the two-word contrast linker that fits.

Her first novel sold poorly., the publisher commissioned a second.
Decide whether each statement about the gapped text is true or false.
  • The paragraph you choose must fit the text before the gap and the text after it.
  • Topic vocabulary is a safe guide, because the wrong options are about other topics.
  • One of the paragraphs offered is not used anywhere.
3 to go
Which feature most reliably links a missing paragraph to the text after the gap?

6Add the two-word phrase referring to the second of two things.

Two of the machines failed within a week.was still under warranty.

7A gap sits between a paragraph ending in a question and a paragraph beginning ‘That, at least, was the hope.’ What must the missing paragraph contain?

The paragraph after a gap begins: ‘Neither argument convinced the committee.’ The missing paragraph must therefore:

9Add the two-word linker that fits.

Sales fell for six straight months., the online division grew steadily.
Decide whether each statement is true or false.
  • Reading the whole text through before looking at the options wastes time.
  • Crossing off options as you use them reduces the risk of a chain of wrong answers.
  • If two options seem to fit, compare how each one ends against the text after the gap.
3 to go

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Frequently asked questions

Should I do the gapped text first or last in the paper?

Not last. It is the part that most rewards unhurried reading, so do it while you still have the concentration for it and leave a shorter, more mechanical task for the final minutes.

What do I do if I place a paragraph and the next gap will not work?

Treat that as evidence, not bad luck. Go back to your least confident placement, move it, and see whether both gaps resolve. Errors in this task come in pairs far more often than singly.

How is this different from cross-text multiple matching?

The gapped text asks where a paragraph belongs in one text. Cross-text multiple matching asks you to compare several short texts and decide which writer agrees or disagrees with which — a task about opinion and attitude rather than cohesion.

How much time should the gapped text take?

Around fifteen minutes, including the first read-through and the final check. That sounds generous until you try it: the read-through alone takes three or four minutes, and the last two gaps always take longer than the first four.

Can I answer without understanding the whole text?

Partly, because cohesion clues are local. But the paragraph that must be rejected is usually rejected on the argument rather than on grammar, so a candidate who has not followed the reasoning places the extra paragraph somewhere and loses two marks at once.

What should I practise if I keep getting three or four out of six?

Practise the clues rather than whole tasks. Take any well-written article, delete the first sentence of each paragraph, and put them back. Ten minutes of that, three times a week, trains exactly the reading this part rewards.