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Use of English

Level B2

Part 2 - Open Cloze

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7
1

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

Keeping Houseplants Alive

Many people buy a houseplant (0) AS a quick way to make a room feel more welcoming. At first, it looks easy: you place it near a window, water it, and wait. Yet, after a few weeks, the leaves may start to turn yellow, and you wonder (1) .......... you have done wrong. One common mistake is watering too often. Some plants prefer soil that dries out slightly (2) .......... waterings, while others need steady moisture. A good rule is to check the top layer of soil with your finger; if it feels dry, it is probably time to water. Light is another key factor. A plant that is described as “low light” does not mean it can live (3) .......... sunlight at all; it simply needs less direct sun than other species. Temperature also matters. Most houseplants do best (4) .......... the room stays fairly stable, away from cold drafts or hot radiators. Finally, remember that growth is not constant. In winter, many plants slow down, so they may need less water and (5) .......... feeding. If you pay attention to these basics, you will soon notice improvements, and your plant will look healthier (6) .......... before. Over time, you may even find (7) .......... buying more plants becomes a relaxing hobby rather than a risky experiment. The best part is that, once you learn the signs, you can often fix problems (8) .......... they become serious.

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

Александра Лазуткина

@aleksandra-lazutkina

User Prompt

"Create an exercise about plants."

Tone: Standard
Level: B2

Created on:

Mar 29, 2026

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