Browse through the passage to get the overall idea behind it

Read the lines carefully to determine what is missing in terms of the intended meaning

Choose the right word to fill in the gap so that the intended meaning is preserved

Note the context and adjust your answers by using the right part of speech, verb form, agreement in numbers, etc.

Exam Skill Reminders:

Note the following cues:

1. What is missing in terms of meaning? Fill in a word that can bring in the missing meaning.

2. Note the context to determine the form of the word.

Verb: basic form(s), past, present or past participle

Noun: singular or plural

Adjective or adverb

3. Watch out for gaps which do not add meaning but tone.

4. Watch out for grammatical fillers Such as articles, prepositions, etc.

The following exercise aims to help you identify the types of gap-filling in Open Cloze.

Meaning Gap

1. Some students were absent from school yesterday. ............ of them was Alfred.

2. When my son is old ............, I will let him learn how to drive.

3. In order to teach English well, a teacher should first make his students ................. in the subject.

4. A good nursery centre should make ............ that the children are well cared for. So, it is not easy to ............ a nursery.

5. I ............ you that our nursery is good and you will not regret leaving your son with us.

6. I know, but my husband and I earn very little per month, ............... we wouldn't want to pay more than $2,000.

7. If everyone pays less than $2,000, it is not ............ our effort to provide the best service.

8. ............. far this year, there have already been 30 cases of theft in our school.

9. Mr A Yiu, who is in ................... of the project, is happy with the result. But he also admits that the .................. faced by our planet cannot be solved overnight. The rescue work has to go on.

10. The company is planning to recruit more people because it is ..................... of staff.

Grammar Gap

11. There are only 1,328 tigers left in the whole ............. the world.

12. When our parents grow old, we should look ............. them.

13. Our government should take action to find ............. why so many youngsters get addicted ........... soft drugs.

14. Thanks ............ the generosity of Hong Kong people, financial help for the project 'Save the Planet' has come from many sources ......... over the territory.

15. This house is full of rats. Anytime you can see ....... many as 20 scampering about.

16. Hong Kong has .................... latest technology in telecommunications.

Tone Gap

17. If you start to revise your subjects only in April, it will be .......... too late.

18. I won't choose a script to write on in the exam because I don't know anything at ......... about it.

19. Clever students spend ........... less time studying than foolish students.

20. If we don't do anything now about the problem, things will certainly go from bad to worse. Worst of ......... , it may be too late to deal with it.

Answers: 1. One; 2. enough;

3. interested; 4. sure, run; 5. assure;

6. so; 7. worth; 8. So; 9. charge, problem; 10. short; 11. of; 12. after;

13. out, to; 14. to, all; 15. as; 16. the; 17. far; 18. all; 19. far; 20. all