The C1 Advanced open cloze gives you no options at all: one word per gap, spelled correctly. Almost every answer is a grammatical word — a preposition, an auxiliary, a relative pronoun or half of a fixed phrase — and this page drills the ones that come up again and again.
Part 2 answers are ordinary words. If ‘of’, ‘it’, ‘had’ or ‘that’ fits, it is very likely the answer. Candidates lose time hunting for something clever in a task that never asks for it.
A comma before the gap often signals a relative or a linker; a gap directly after a full stop is frequently a linker or a fronted negative. The typography narrows the options before you have read a word.
Fluent chunks sound continuous; wrong ones snag. If you have to argue yourself into an answer, it is probably the wrong word class rather than the wrong word.
Write your best word immediately and put a small dot beside it. At the end you will know exactly which four gaps deserve your last two minutes.
Part 2 texts build an argument. A gap in the second paragraph can depend on a contrast set up in the first, and you will not see it if you work gap by gap from the start.
Ask what must go here: preposition, auxiliary, relative, linker, quantifier. That decision narrows the field from thousands of words to about ten, and only then does meaning have to do any work.
If a gap sits between ‘in’ and ‘of’, you are inside a fixed phrase: in spite of, in view of, in favour of, in terms of. Fill the frame, then check the meaning of the whole sentence supports your choice.
Contractions count as two words, so ‘doesn’t’ is not an answer. If your instinct is ‘as well as’, the gap is asking for one of those three words, not all of them.
Leave two minutes at the end. Reading the whole thing catches the gap where you wrote a word that fits the sentence but contradicts the paragraph.
Not thisNo sooner had we sat down when the alarm went off.
ThisNo sooner had we sat down than the alarm went off.
‘No sooner’ pairs with ‘than’; ‘hardly’ and ‘scarcely’ pair with ‘when’. Learn the pairs together or you will keep swapping them.
Not thisThere is no point to complain now.
ThisThere is no point in complaining now.
‘Point’ takes ‘in’ plus an -ing form. The gap is testing the preposition, and the verb form after it confirms your answer.
Not thisShe insisted to pay for the meal.
ThisShe insisted on paying for the meal.
‘Insist’ takes ‘on’ plus -ing. Verbs with fixed prepositions are the single most common Part 2 answer type.
Not thisIt was not until 1998 when the ban was lifted.
ThisIt was not until 1998 that the ban was lifted.
This is a cleft sentence, and clefts take ‘that’ even when the focus is a time. ‘When’ feels natural and is wrong.
Not thisDespite of the delay, everyone stayed.
ThisIn spite of the delay, everyone stayed.
‘Despite’ takes no ‘of’; ‘in spite’ does. The two phrases are so close that candidates blend them, and the blend is always wrong.
Not thisIt is high time we review the contract.
ThisIt is high time we reviewed the contract.
‘It is high time’ is followed by a past form with present meaning. The gap may be the ‘time’, but the verb after it shows whether you understood the structure.
Not thisUnder no circumstances you should leave the door open.
ThisUnder no circumstances should you leave the door open.
A fronted negative adverbial inverts the subject and auxiliary. Candidates write the phrase correctly and then forget what it does to the clause.
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.
2Complete the sentence.
3Complete the sentence.
6Complete the sentence.
7Why decide what part of speech a Part 2 gap needs before trying to fill it?
One good answer
Because the words around the gap fix the grammar: an article needs a noun after it, ‘depend’ needs ‘on’, a comparative needs ‘than’. Naming the class — preposition, auxiliary, relative pronoun, linker — cuts the field to a handful of candidates, and meaning then decides between them in seconds.
9Complete the sentence.
12Complete the sentence.
14A gap is preceded by ‘in’ and followed by ‘of’. What are you looking for, and what do you check?
One good answer
A noun belonging to a fixed phrase: in spite of, in view of, in favour of, in terms of, in place of. Check which one matches the meaning of the whole sentence, and check what follows the phrase — a noun phrase or an -ing form — then read it back to hear whether the phrase is complete.
15Complete the sentence.
18Complete the sentence.
19Complete the sentence.
21Complete the sentence.
23Complete the sentence.
25Complete the sentence.
27Your word fits the sentence, but the paragraph now reads oddly. What has gone wrong?
One good answer
You have probably chosen a linker that contradicts the argument: an ‘however’ where the text is adding rather than contrasting, or a ‘so’ where the cause runs the other way. Reread the sentence before the gap and the sentence after it, decide whether the relation is contrast, result, addition or condition, and pick the word that names that relation.
28Complete the sentence.
30Complete the sentence.
33Complete the sentence.
34A Part 2 gap is followed by an -ing form. What kinds of word should you consider?
One good answer
A preposition, because prepositions are what force -ing: ‘in’ after ‘point’, ‘on’ after ‘insist’, ‘to’ after ‘look forward’, ‘of’ after ‘accused’. Also consider the second half of a phrase such as ‘with a view to’ or ‘far from’. Identify the verb or noun before the gap and ask which preposition it demands.
36Complete the sentence.
38Complete the sentence.
Note
Pick Two Activity is an independent tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Cambridge University Press & Assessment, the British Council, IDP, ETS, Duolingo or any other exam board. Exam names are trademarks of their owners and are used here only to describe the exam you are preparing for. Every question on this page is original practice written by us: we do not provide, copy or reproduce official exam papers.
Not all of them, but prepositions and particles are the largest single group, followed by auxiliaries and relatives. If you are stuck, running through the common prepositions in the frame is a reasonable last resort.
No contractions: they count as two words. A hyphenated word would be unusual and is best avoided — if your answer needs a hyphen, you have probably misread the structure.
Write the word as it would appear in the sentence. A gap at the start of a sentence takes a capital; elsewhere lower case is expected, and examiners are not looking to fail you on this, but neat answers avoid any doubt.
Yes, because they are easy marks once learned and impossible to work out under pressure. Six patterns cover most of them: no sooner, hardly, under no circumstances, not only, little did, and were it not for. Write one true sentence with each and you will recognise them instantly.
Say the whole phrase to yourself and count the words against the gap. ‘In spite of’ with ‘in’ and ‘of’ printed leaves one slot, and only one word goes there. Most candidates who feel stuck actually know the phrase and have not looked at what is already on the page.
Aim for six or more consistently before the exam. If you are at three or four, the problem is usually not vocabulary but structures — conditionals, clefts, inversions and relatives — and it is worth spending a week on those rather than on more cloze texts.