C2 Proficiency open cloze practice with answers

• Grammatical structures signalled by a single word: inversion, comparison, unreal conditionals.
• The missing half of a two-part fixed expression such as by and large or not so much X as Y.
• Linkers and discourse markers that show concession, contrast or consequence.
• Reference: which pronoun or determiner points back to what earlier in the text.
• Dependent prepositions in nominal phrases, where the noun rather than the verb decides the choice.
• Auxiliary and modal use, including the perfect infinitive after modals of deduction.
• Quantifiers and determiners in fixed frames: little, few, much, whatever, whichever.
• Relative and nominal clause markers, including the difference between which, whose and whereby.
• Ellipsis and substitution with do, so and one, where the missing word replaces a whole phrase.
• Spelling accuracy in the function words candidates most often mangle: whereas, albeit, nonetheless.

1. Step 1: 1

   Read for the argument before you write anything

   Open cloze gaps are decided by the direction of the text. If the sentence reverses what came before, your gap is probably a concessive word; if it extends it, an additive one. Know the direction first.

2. Step 2: 2

   Name the word class

   Before choosing a word, decide whether the gap needs an auxiliary, a preposition, a pronoun, a determiner or a linker. That single decision removes most wrong answers and stops you writing a content word by reflex.

3. Step 3: 3

   Look left for triggers

   No sooner, hardly, little, under no circumstances and such all trigger inversion, which means the gap after them is very often an auxiliary. Train yourself to see the trigger and write did, had or was without hesitating.

4. Step 4: 4

   Say the phrase aloud in your head

   For fixed expressions the ear is faster than analysis. By ___ large, in the ___ run, on the ___ hand: if you have read enough, the missing word arrives before the reasoning does.

5. Step 5: 5

   Trace every pronoun to its referent

   Where the gap is a pronoun or determiner, find the noun it stands for and check number and animacy. A gap that looks like it wants it very often wants those, so or one.

6. Step 6: 6

   Watch for two-part structures split across a line

   Not only ... but also, so ... that, such ... that, the more ... the more. If you can see one half above the gap, the gap is the other half, and no amount of meaning reasoning is needed.

7. Step 7: 7

   Check that your word fits the whole sentence

   The commonest lost mark is a word that fits the five words around it but breaks the sentence. Reread each completed sentence in full before moving on, and check that no contraction is needed.

8. Step 8: 8

   Fill the easy gaps first, then reread the text whole

   Most candidates solve six gaps quickly and stall on two. Complete the text with the six in place and read it straight through: the remaining gaps are usually obvious once the argument is continuous.

• Not thisNo sooner she had arrived than the phone rang.

  ThisNo sooner had she arrived than the phone rang.

  No sooner in front position forces subject-auxiliary inversion. Candidates write the auxiliary in the gap but leave the word order unchanged.

• Not thisDespite of the delay, the launch went ahead.

  ThisDespite the delay, the launch went ahead.

  Despite takes no preposition; in spite of does. The two structures collapse into one another under time pressure.

• Not thisThe plan was expensive, although effective.

  ThisThe plan was expensive, if effective.

  Where the gap is a single concessive word before an adjective, if is the idiomatic choice in formal prose. Although wants a clause to feel natural here.

• Not thisSuch was her insistence, the matter was reopened.

  ThisSuch was her insistence that the matter was reopened.

  Such was X that Y is a two-part structure. Dropping that leaves a comma splice and loses the mark even though the inversion is right.

• Not thisNo sooner had he sat down when the bell rang.

  ThisNo sooner had he sat down than the bell rang.

  No sooner pairs with than; hardly and scarcely pair with when. The two patterns are learned together and then confused.

• Not thisThe report, whose conclusions were ignored, was published in March.

  ThisThe report, whose conclusions were ignored, was published in March. (correct) — but not: The report, which conclusions were ignored, ...

  Possession inside a relative clause needs whose, even with an inanimate head noun. Which conclusions is the error candidates actually write.

• Not thisHe must had known about the delay.

  ThisHe must have known about the delay.

  Modals of deduction take have plus a participle. The gap wants have, and had is the reflex error under time pressure.

no sooner ... than

immediately after; triggers inversion in front position

hardly / scarcely ... when

the same meaning as no sooner, but paired with when

albeit

although (formal, introduces a phrase rather than a clause)

by and large

generally, with some exceptions

not so much X as Y

Y rather than X; a structure for correcting a description

that said

nevertheless; concedes the previous point before qualifying it

such was ... that

the degree was so great that; an emphatic inverted structure

were it not for

if it had not been for; formal unreal condition

would sooner ... than

would prefer to do one thing rather than another

given

taking into account; introduces an accepted premise

there is little point in

it is not worth doing

whereby

by means of which; introduces a mechanism in formal prose

insofar as

to the extent that; limits the scope of a claim

for all

despite; followed by a noun phrase

if anything

signals that the opposite of an expectation is mildly true

as it stands

in its present form, before any change

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