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Use of English

Level C1

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.

Exam Preparation

Preparing for the Cambridge English C1 exam involves far more than memorising lists of advanced words. Success in the Open Cloze task depends (0) ON recognising how grammar shapes meaning across a whole text. Candidates often focus so heavily (1) .......... vocabulary that they overlook smaller words, even though these are frequently the key to the correct answer. It is also important to read beyond the gap itself, since the surrounding sentence may provide clues as (2) .......... tense, reference or logical connection are required. In many cases, students improve not by learning harder words, but by becoming more aware of fixed expressions and common patterns, such (3) .......... verb-preposition combinations. Another useful strategy is to check every answer twice: first for meaning, and then for structure. A word may seem possible in isolation and yet prove incorrect when considered in relation (4) .......... the rest of the sentence. Teachers therefore advise students to practise regularly and to reflect (5) .......... their mistakes carefully. Those who do so usually become better (6) .......... identifying the kinds of grammatical relationships that the task is designed to test. In the end, success depends less on luck than (7) .......... patience, accuracy and a willingness to think (8) .......... each sentence as part of a larger whole.

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

Claire Papot

@claire-96ca57

User Prompt

"Design a Reading & Use of English Open Cloze exercise for C1 level that resembles the Cambridge English exam in structure and difficulty."

Tone: Standard
Level: C1

Created on:

Jul 30, 2026

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