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Use of English

Level B2

Part 2 - Open Cloze

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For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.

Urban Pollution

Pollution is (0) ONE of the most serious problems facing modern cities. It affects not only the environment but also the health of people who live (1) .......... them. In many places, air quality has become so poor that residents are advised to stay indoors rather (2) .......... exercise outside during certain times of day. This is mainly because traffic, factories and heating systems give (3) .......... harmful gases into the atmosphere. Water pollution is equally worrying, as rivers and seas are often contaminated (4) .......... chemicals and waste. Governments have introduced laws to deal (5) .......... these issues, but progress is sometimes slow. Much depends (6) .......... whether businesses and individuals are willing to change their habits. For example, people can reduce pollution by using public transport instead (7) .......... driving everywhere. Cities that invest in cleaner energy and better recycling systems are likely to see improvements (8) .......... the future.

What to do

This part consists of a short text with a series of gaps. There are no words from which to choose the answers, candidates have to think of a word which fits the gap correctly.

Errors in punctuation are ignored, although spelling must be correct.

Contractions (e.g. don’t, we’ve, won’t) count as two words. However, can’t is a contraction of cannot, which is one word.

Sometimes, there is more than one correct answer. Cambridge will always account for this and all options will be accepted. However, you should not write more than one answer.

Don't spend time in a word you don't know. Wasting time on this activity might cost you points later in the exam because you won’t have enough time to do other tasks well.

Strategy

  1. Read the title and the whole text so that you understand what it is about.
  2. Read the whole sentence in which the gap occurs, to look for clues as to what kind of word you need.
  3. Check the words before and after each gap and look for grammatical collocations.
  4. Remember you must write only one word.
  5. You are never required to write a contraction. If you think the answer is a contraction, it must be wrong, so think again.
  6. Read the whole text through once you have completed it to make sure you have not missed any connectors, plurals or negatives.

Instructions

For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.

Exercise Details

Author

Lucia Jiménez

@lucia-ea8600

User Prompt

"Pollution"

Tone: Standard
Level: B2

Created on:

Aug 16, 2026

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