Cambridge Exam Blog 2

Today it’s time to look at part 2!

Open Cloze

What’s the task like?

The second exercise from the Use of English paper is an open cloze – a short text with eight gaps which you need to fill. No options are given.

How many points is it worth?

Every correct answer is worth 1 point of the total 36 for the Use of English paper. It’s 22% of the paper or 4% of the whole exam.

How long do I have to do it?

Just like part 1 we’d recommend spending about 7 minutes on this exercise.

What kind of words come up?

In theory it could be any word but mostly it’s….

Auxiliary Verbs

Be / have  (often before a past participle!)

Do

Modal verbs

Can, could, would, will, may, might, should, must (the verb after will be an infinitive without ‘to’)

Prepositions  (if they come before a verb that verb will be in the gerund!)

On, to, by, in, with, without, up, of, into, since, after, before, about, until, out, over through, against

Pronouns

Subject pronouns – I, you, he, she, it ,we, they

Object pronouns – me, you hime, her, it, us , them

Relflexive pronouns – myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

(the verbs in English always have a subject!)

Relative adverbs/pronouns

Where, who, whom, whose, which, that why, when (they come up a lot!)

Articles

A, an, the

‘Linkers’

Although, though, even though, despite/in spite of (if there’s a noun or gerund after!), however, but,and, if, unless, whether, such as, like, as a result, in order to, either, neither

Other common words

Much, many, some, any, Little, few, no, not, more, none, instead (of),already, still, yet, just, somebody, nobody, anybody etc

than (look for the comparative!)

Common structures

As well as

As long as

As far as…… is concerned

As soon  as)

As much/many  as

Not only/ just………but

Other advice

Read the whole text first and try to identify the type of word you need!

If you don’t know , make a guess!

Only put one word. Contractions like can’t, won’t, don’t etc count as two words.

Be careful with your spelling – misspelt words are incorrect!

Good Luck!