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C2 Proficiency multiple-choice cloze practice

C2Reading & Use of English40 questionsUpdated

The C2 Proficiency multiple-choice cloze tests vocabulary at the level of the fixed phrase. Each gap has four options that all make sense as meanings; only one of them is the word English actually uses in that slot. That is why reading the whole sentence, not the gap, is the only reliable method.

What this task tests

  • Collocation: which verb, noun or adjective habitually keeps company with the words around the gap.
  • Idiom and fixed expression, where the meaning cannot be worked out from the parts.
  • Phrasal verbs, including the ones with a formal one-word equivalent.
  • Dependent prepositions after verbs, nouns and adjectives.
  • Shades of connotation: two options may share a dictionary meaning but differ in approval or formality.
  • Complement patterns: whether a verb takes a gerund, an infinitive, a that-clause or a bare object.
  • Intensifier and adverb collocation, such as bitterly disappointed but deeply regrettable.
  • Register matching between the option and the surrounding text type.
  • Binomials and semi-fixed pairs such as by and large, first and foremost, part and parcel.

How to do it

  1. Step 1:

    Read the whole text first, fast

    Thirty seconds of skimming tells you the register and the topic. A gap in a restaurant review and a gap in a policy paper attract different vocabulary, and knowing which you are in kills half the distractors before you look at them.

  2. Step 2:

    Predict before you look

    Cover the four options and say what you would put in the gap. If your own word appears in the list, it is almost always right. If nothing comes, you are facing a fixed phrase, not a meaning choice.

  3. Step 3:

    Test the words after the gap, not before

    Most items are decided by what follows: a preposition, an adverb particle, or a noun that only one option collocates with. Check the right-hand side of the gap first.

  4. Step 4:

    Eliminate on grammar, then on collocation

    Cross out anything that takes the wrong preposition or the wrong complement pattern. Only then choose between the survivors on the basis of which phrase you have actually met in reading.

  5. Step 5:

    Ask what the sentence thinks of its subject

    Where all four options mean roughly the same, the deciding factor is usually approval. Notorious and renowned describe the same fame; only one of them is a compliment, and the rest of the sentence tells you which is wanted.

  6. Step 6:

    Read the completed sentence back

    Slot your choice in and read the full sentence silently. A wrong answer at C2 almost always produces a small jolt: an article that should not be there, a preposition doing nothing, a rhythm that is not English.

  7. Step 7:

    Mark and move, do not stall

    Give any single gap thirty seconds at most on the first pass. Put a dot in the margin, take your best current answer, and come back only when the whole paper has a mark against every item.

  8. Step 8:

    Budget the task at eight to ten minutes

    This is the lowest-scoring task per item on the paper. If it is eating into the time you need for the gapped text, you are trading cheap marks for expensive ones.

Mistakes that cost marks

  • Not thisThe report made light of the risks, sheding doubt on the whole plan.

    ThisThe report made light of the risks, casting doubt on the whole plan.

    Doubt is cast; light is shed. Candidates who learn the verbs separately from their objects swap them under pressure.

  • Not thisHe took no bones about his opposition.

    ThisHe made no bones about his opposition.

    Idioms are fixed at the level of the individual word. Take, have and give are all plausible verbs here and all wrong.

  • Not thisHer arguments were widely regarded to be persuasive.

    ThisHer arguments were widely regarded as persuasive.

    Regard takes as; consider takes a bare complement. Mixing the two patterns is the single commonest slip in this task.

  • Not thisThey discussed about the proposal at length.

    ThisThey discussed the proposal at length.

    Discuss is transitive. A distractor often exploits an L1 pattern by offering a verb that looks like it needs a preposition.

  • Not thisShe was deeply disappointed by the verdict.

    ThisShe was bitterly disappointed by the verdict.

    Deeply and bitterly are both intensifiers, but disappointment takes bitterly. Intensifier collocation is tested on almost every paper.

  • Not thisThe minister is notorious for her work on housing reform.

    ThisThe minister is renowned for her work on housing reform.

    Notorious carries disapproval. Choosing on denotation alone and ignoring connotation turns praise into an insult.

  • Not thisHe denied to have seen the document.

    ThisHe denied having seen the document.

    Deny takes a gerund, not an infinitive. Three of the four options in a complement-pattern item are usually eliminated on this basis alone.

Language this task keeps reusing

call something into question
make people doubt something that was previously accepted
make no bones about
say something openly, without softening it
a foregone conclusion
a result that was certain before the process even started
give something short shrift
dismiss it quickly and with little sympathy
take exception to
object to something, often on grounds of principle
brush aside
dismiss an objection without engaging with it
it stands to reason
it follows logically
but for
if it had not been for (formal, introduces an unreal condition)
out of hand
immediately and without discussion
bear no resemblance to
be completely unlike
be at pains to
make a visible effort to do something, usually to avoid a misunderstanding
at odds with
in conflict or disagreement with
take something in one’s stride
deal with a difficulty calmly, as though it were routine
not bear scrutiny
fall apart when examined closely
a moot point
a question that remains open to argument
tone something down
make a statement less forceful

Practice: multiple-choice cloze

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.

The committee’s findings have beeninto question by three of the member states.
Her argument, however elegantly constructed, ___ short of explaining the anomaly.

3Complete the sentence.

Nothing could have beenfrom the truth.
The minister ___ no bones about her opposition to the levy.
Decide whether each statement about the multiple-choice cloze is true.
  • Options are chosen so that more than one can be defended if the sentence is read on its own.
  • The words immediately after the gap often decide the answer.
  • Knowing a word’s dictionary meaning is usually enough to choose between four near-synonyms.
3 to go
Decide whether each statement about C2 vocabulary is true.
  • Bear no resemblance to and have nothing in common with are close in meaning.
  • To give a proposal short shrift is to examine it carefully.
  • Out of hand can mean both immediately and uncontrolled, depending on the structure around it.
3 to go
The evidence ___ heavily in favour of the second hypothesis.

8Complete the sentence.

By nois this a straightforward case.

9An item offers 'refuted', 'denied', 'contradicted' and 'rebutted' for the gap in 'She ___ the allegation point by point'. Explain how you would choose.

The outcome was a ___ conclusion long before the final vote was counted.

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Frequently asked questions

How long should the multiple-choice cloze take?

Around eight to ten minutes including the skim read. It carries fewer marks than the later tasks, so a candidate who spends twenty minutes agonising over two gaps has already lost the paper.

Is it worth guessing if I do not know the phrase?

Always. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, and elimination on grammar usually leaves you with two options rather than four, which turns a guess into a coin flip you can win.

How do I learn the collocations this task wants?

Record vocabulary in chunks rather than single words: not doubt but cast doubt on, not exception but take exception to. Read editorials and reviews, where this kind of language is densest, and copy out whole phrases.

Are phrasal verbs still tested at C2?

Yes, and more heavily than many candidates expect. The difference from B2 is that the phrasal verbs are less transparent, and the distractors are other real phrasal verbs built on the same particle.

Why do I keep getting items wrong when I knew all four words?

Because knowing four words is not what the task asks. It asks which of them English puts in that slot, which is a question about reading experience rather than vocabulary size. The cure is volume of reading with phrases copied out, not more word lists.