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Module 5 · Reviews, Multiple Matching & Discussion · Lesson 19

Use of English Cloze Combo

Three cloze tasks, three different skills: choosing the right word from near-synonyms (Part 1), supplying grammar words from memory (Part 2), and transforming a word's form to fit the gap (Part 3). Train the specific mindset each part demands, then run all three back to back under time pressure.

CEFR B260 minUse of English P1–P3Core

Get talking · Section 1

5 min

discussion
Spot the difference

'Make' or 'do' a decision? 'Make' or 'do' an effort? What's the rule, if there is one?

activity
Missing word

Complete without options: 'I've been waiting ___ two hours.' What ONE word fits, and how did you know?

reflection
Change the shape

The word is HAPPY. Make it fit: 'To my great ___, she said yes.' What did you have to do to the word?

Grammar focus · Section 2

8–10 min

Three cloze parts, three mindsets

Grammar focus

Parts 1-3 of Use of English all remove words from a text, but each tests something different. Part 1 tests vocabulary precision — choosing between near-synonyms. Part 2 tests grammar recall — supplying the word from memory, no options given. Part 3 tests word formation — changing a given root word into the correct part of speech.

Examples

  • → Part 1: 'She ___ a great effort to arrive on time.' → made (fixed collocation, not 'did' or 'took').

  • → Part 2: 'I've been waiting ___ two hours.' → for (grammar word, no options given).

  • → Part 3: 'To my great HAPPY → happiness, she said yes.' (adjective → noun).

  • → Part 3 negative: 'It was a completely UNEXPECT → unexpected turn of events.' (add prefix + suffix).

  • → All three: read past the gap first — the answer is often confirmed by a word later in the sentence.

Open Grammar Reference

Question 1.What does Part 1 (multiple-choice cloze) mainly test?

Question 2.What kind of words are usually missing in Part 2 (open cloze)?

Question 3.In Part 3 (word formation), what is given beside each gap?

Question 4.Why should you read past the gap before answering?

Question 5.'She made a great effort' — why is 'made' correct here rather than 'did'?

Answer all items, then check.

Quick check 1.Part 2 gaps have…

Quick check 2.Part 3 often requires adding…

Quick check 3.The safest strategy across all three parts is to…

Answer all items, then check.

Vocabulary · Section 3

5–7 min

Words & phrases to own

Open Vocabulary Bank
1

collocation

words that naturally go together (e.g. 'make an effort').

"'Heavy rain' is a collocation; 'strong rain' sounds unnatural."

Use it now

Name one collocation with the word 'take'.

2

near-synonym

a word close in meaning to another, but not identical in use.

"'Make' and 'do' are near-synonyms but not interchangeable."

Use it now

Give a near-synonym pair that often confuses learners.

3

root word

the base form of a word before prefixes/suffixes are added.

"The root word of 'happiness' is 'happy'."

Use it now

What's the root word of 'disagreement'?

4

prefix

letters added to the START of a word to change its meaning.

"'Un-' in 'unexpected' reverses the meaning."

Use it now

Add a prefix to 'happy' to make it negative.

5

suffix

letters added to the END of a word to change its word class.

"'-ness' turns 'happy' into 'happiness'."

Use it now

Add a suffix to 'act' to make it a noun.

6

word class

the grammatical category of a word (noun, verb, adjective, adverb).

"'Happiness' is a noun; 'happily' is an adverb."

Use it now

What word class is 'quickly'?

7

auxiliary verb

a helper verb used to form tenses, questions, negatives (be, do, have).

"'Have' is the auxiliary in 'I have finished'."

Use it now

Name the auxiliary in 'She is working'.

8

linker

a word connecting ideas or clauses (however, although, despite).

"'Although it rained, we went out.'"

Use it now

Use 'despite' in one sentence.

9

quantifier

a word expressing amount (some, few, several, much).

"'Few people attended the meeting.'"

Use it now

Use 'several' in a sentence about your week.

10

to transform (a word)

to change a word's form to fit grammatically.

"You need to transform 'happy' into 'happiness' here."

Use it now

Transform 'careful' into its opposite adjective.

Activate · use it within minutes

Activate · Complete the sentence
Transform it

Change the root word in capitals to fit each sentence.

  • It was a moment of pure JOY → 'She looked absolutely ___.'

  • CARE → 'He read the instructions ___ before starting.'

  • AGREE → 'There was a total ___ about what to do next.'

  • POSSIBLE → 'It's simply ___ to finish by Friday.'

  • DECIDE → 'Her ___ to leave surprised everyone.'

Tick each word as you use it

Activate · Speak for 30 seconds
Collocation quickfire

Teacher says a noun; student says the verb that collocates (make/do/take/have).

  • ___ a decision

  • ___ homework

  • ___ a photo

  • ___ a shower

  • ___ an effort

  • ___ a mistake

Categorise
Sort each term by which Use of English part it's most associated with.
Answer all items, then check.

Pronunciation · Section 4

3–4 min

Word stress shifts when word class changes

Say it aloud

  • • Say aloud: PHOtograph (noun) vs phoTOgrapher (person) vs photoGRAPHic (adjective) — hear the stress move.
  • • Contrast: 'to REcord' (verb) vs 'a RECord' (noun) — same spelling, different stress.
  • • Practise: haPPY → hapPIness — stress often shifts one syllable right with '-ness'.
  • • Say: deCIDE → deCIsion → INdecisive — track the stress across the word family.
  • • Drill: read a sentence aloud, pausing to stress the transformed word clearly: 'Her deciSION was final.'

Reading · Section 5

8–10 min

Why the fastest Use of English candidates read backwards first

Read the passageTap to open

Ask a Cambridge examiner which part of the exam rewards patience over speed, and Use of English Parts 1-3 usually top the list — not because the texts are long, but because the temptation to answer too quickly is strongest here. Each gap looks like an isolated multiple-choice question, and candidates under time pressure often treat it that way, choosing an answer the instant it looks plausible and moving on. This habit is the single biggest source of avoidable errors across all three parts.

In Part 1, the four options are usually near-synonyms — words close enough in meaning that isolated gap-reading genuinely cannot distinguish them. 'Make', 'do', 'take' and 'have' can all precede a noun in some context, but only one collocates naturally with the specific noun in the gap. The only way to know which is to notice the noun itself, sometimes two or three words after the gap — information invisible if you stop reading at the blank.

Part 2 punishes the same habit differently. With no options provided, candidates must supply a grammar word from memory, and grammar words are defined entirely by their relationship to surrounding words: a preposition depends on the verb before it ('depend ON', not 'depend FOR'); an article depends on whether the noun is countable, plural or already specified; a linker depends on the logical relationship between two clauses that may span the whole sentence. None of this is visible from the six words immediately around the gap alone.

Part 3 seems different because a root word is provided, appearing to remove ambiguity — but the correct FORM of that root word (noun, adjective, negative, comparative) is decided by the grammar of the sentence around it, which again requires reading past the gap. 'She was completely UNAWARE of the risk' needs a negative adjective; 'Her AWARENESS of the risk grew slowly' needs a positive noun — same root, opposite decisions, and the only clue is the rest of the sentence.

The practical fix Cambridge trainers teach is counterintuitive: read the full sentence, sometimes the surrounding sentences, BEFORE settling on an answer, even though this feels slower per gap. In practice it is faster overall, because it prevents the far costlier problem of confidently committing to a wrong answer and never revisiting it. Strong candidates treat each cloze task as one continuous text to understand, with gaps as details to resolve along the way — not as sixteen unrelated multiple-choice questions.

Question 1.What does the writer identify as the 'single biggest source of avoidable errors'?

Question 2.In Part 1, why can't near-synonyms be distinguished by the gap alone?

Question 3.Why are Part 2 grammar words 'defined entirely by their relationship to surrounding words'?

Question 4.In the UNAWARE/AWARENESS example, what determines the correct form?

Question 5.What does the writer call the counterintuitive but effective fix?

Answer all items, then check.
True / False / Not Given
Decide if each statement is True or False

Q1.Answering the instant an option looks plausible is a safe strategy.

Q2.In Part 1, collocation with a nearby noun can determine the correct answer.

Q3.Grammar words in Part 2 can be understood without any surrounding context.

Q4.Reading more of the sentence before answering is, overall, usually faster in practice.

Answer all items, then check.

Listening · Section 6

8–10 min

A tutor coaches a student through tricky cloze gaps

Listening audio

Tap play to listen. Drag the timeline to jump anywhere.

Show transcript

Ms. Patel:OK, Part 1, question 4: 'She ___ a great effort to be on time.' The options are make, do, take, have.

Oscar:I want to say 'do' — 'do an effort' sounds fine to me.

Ms. Patel:It sounds fine in some languages, but in English the fixed collocation is 'make an effort'. Say it aloud a few times.

Oscar:Make an effort, make an effort... OK, that does sound more natural now.

Ms. Patel:Good. Now Part 2, question 7, no options this time: 'I've been living here ___ 2019.' What fits?

Oscar:Since? Because it's a specific point in time, not a length of time.

Ms. Patel:Exactly right. If it said 'five years' instead, we'd need 'for'. Now Part 3: the root word is DECIDE, and the gap is 'Her ___ surprised everyone.'

Oscar:It needs a noun there, so... decision?

Ms. Patel:Perfect. What about this one — same root, different sentence: 'He seemed ___ about which university to choose.'

Oscar:That needs an adjective, and it sounds negative, so... indecisive?

Ms. Patel:Exactly — same root word, completely different form depending on the grammar around it.

Oscar:So I really do need to read past the gap every time, don't I?

Ms. Patel:Every single time. It feels slower, but it saves you from confidently getting it wrong.

Oscar:Noted. I'll stop rushing to the first option that sounds OK.

Question 1.What collocation error does Oscar nearly make?

Question 2.Why is 'since' correct for question 7?

Question 3.What form does 'DECIDE' need in 'Her ___ surprised everyone'?

Question 4.What form does 'DECIDE' need in 'He seemed ___ about which university to choose'?

Question 5.What lesson does Oscar take away at the end?

Answer all items, then check.

Question 1.Which phrase does Ms. Patel use to explain WHY reading past the gap matters?

Answer all items, then check.

Exam skills · Section 7

5 min

Reading & Use of English — Parts 1, 2 & 3

🎯 The Cloze Combo

24 gaps total across three parts. Read past the gap before answering.

  • Part 1: choose the word that COLLOCATES, not just 'means something similar'
  • Part 2: no options — recall grammar words from the sentence's structure
  • Part 3: transform the root word to fit the word class AND meaning needed
  • Always read the whole sentence (or more) before committing to an answer

Open the FCE Exam Practice block below for full Part 1, 2 and 3 tasks.

Quick Tip

In Part 3, decide the word CLASS needed first (noun/verb/adjective/adverb), then whether it should be positive or negative.

Exam Hack

In Part 2, say the sentence aloud in your head — grammar words often 'sound wrong' when incorrect, even before you can explain why.

Common Mistake

Don't pick a Part 1 option just because it 'means the same thing' — check it fits the exact collocation in the text.

Your task

Complete the three cloze tasks in FCE Exam Practice, timing yourself at roughly 8 minutes per part.

Example

Part 3: root DEPEND, sentence 'The outcome is entirely ___ on the weather.' → needs an adjective → 'dependent'.

Open Exam Strategy Centre

Practice · Section 8

8–10 min

Fill in the blank

Question 1.Part 1 tests vocabulary precision through ___.

Question 2.Part 2 gaps have ___ options given.

Question 3.Part 3 gives a ___ word in capitals to transform.

Question 4.'Make an effort' is an example of a fixed ___.

Question 5.The safest approach is to read the whole ___ before answering.

Question 6.'UNAWARE' is formed by adding a negative ___ to 'aware'.

Answer all items, then check.
Sentence transformation
Type a short answer (1–3 words)

Q1.One word meaning words that 'naturally go together':

Q2.One word for letters added to the START of a word:

Q3.One word for letters added to the END of a word:

Answer all items, then check.

Writing · Section 9

5 min

Put it in writing

Your task

Write 4 sentences, each with one word blanked out and marked in capitals beside it (like Part 3), for a partner to transform correctly.

Show model answer

1. Her CAREFUL reading of the contract saved her a lot of trouble. (adverb: carefully) 2. The company's DECIDE to relocate surprised the whole team. (noun: decision) 3. It was a completely UNEXPECT turn of events. (adjective: unexpected) 4. His HAPPY at the news was obvious to everyone. (noun: happiness)

Speaking · Section 10

10–15 min

Make it a real conversation

Open Useful Expressions

Roleplay

1:1 online task. Teacher reads a sentence with a gap aloud; student must say the correct word type needed (preposition/article/linker/etc.) before guessing the actual word.

Useful phrases

  • • That needs a preposition because…
  • • It has to be a noun here since it follows 'the'.
  • • The root word needs a negative prefix because…
  • • This collocates with… not with…
  • • Let me read the whole sentence again before I decide.
Dialogue completion
Complete Oscar's side of the conversation with the correct transformed word.
  • Ms. PatelRoot word ANNOUNCE: 'The ___ came as a shock to staff.'
  • Oscar_______________
  • Ms. PatelRoot word POSSIBLE, negative form: 'It's simply ___ to finish today.'
  • Oscar_______________
Answer all items, then check.

Teacher notes

Optional · Teacher-led

Teacher Activities

Two short drills that build cross-part cloze instincts. Both work 1:1 online. ~14 min total

FCE Exam Practice · Section 11

20–30 min

Real FCE tasks

Cambridge B2 First · Reading & Use of English · Parts 1, 2 & 3. Three full cloze tasks with rationale for every gap and Teacher Mode answer keys.

Cambridge B2 First · Reading & Use of English · Part 1 · Multiple Choice Cloze
A city that never sleeps... or sits still

For questions 1-8, read the text and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.

Every year, thousands of tourists 1 the decision to visit New York without realising quite how much walking is involved. The city's grid layout 2 it easy to navigate, but distances between attractions are often greater than they appear on a map. Visitors who 3 attention to this detail tend to enjoy their trip far more, simply because they pace themselves. Comfortable shoes 4 a real difference, and it's worth 5 time each day to simply rest. Locals often 6 that the subway is faster than walking for long distances, even though it can feel less scenic. Whatever 7 of transport you choose, it pays to plan ahead, since queues for popular attractions can 8 up quickly, especially at weekends.

  1. Gap 1

  2. Gap 2

  3. Gap 3

  4. Gap 4

  5. Gap 5

  6. Gap 6

  7. Gap 7

  8. Gap 8

Answer all items, then check.
Cambridge B2 First · Reading & Use of English · Part 2 · Open Cloze
The rise of the home café

For questions 1-8, think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap.

Over the past few years, more and more people started making café-quality coffee at home. used to be seen as a luxury only available in coffee shops is now achievable a decent machine and some practice. Part of the appeal is financial: buying a coffee every day up to a significant sum over a year, making it at home costs a fraction of that. the equipment can be expensive at first, most people find it pays for itself within months. It is surprising, then, that home coffee-making has become popular hobby among people who once relied entirely on their local café.

Answer all items, then check.
Cambridge B2 First · Reading & Use of English · Part 3 · Word Formation
Why some people never get bored

For questions 1-8, use the word given in capitals to form a word that fits in each gap.

Psychologists have long been FASCINATE (FASCINATE) by the question of why some people rarely feel bored, while others find BORE (BORE) unbearable within minutes. One EXPLAIN (EXPLAIN) is curiosity: highly curious people treat quiet moments as an OPPORTUNE (OPPORTUNE) to notice small details others miss. This does not mean curious people are simply more PATIENT (PATIENT) — in fact, many describe a RESTLESS (RESTLESS) energy that pushes them to explore rather than complain. Crucially, boredom itself may be less about the situation and more about AWARE (AWARE): people who notice their own thoughts closely tend to find ENDLESS (ENDLESS) small things to think about, even while waiting in a queue.

Answer all items, then check.

Homework · Section 12

Take-home

Take it home

grammar
Task 1

Word family builder

Build the full word family (noun/verb/adjective/adverb/negative where possible) for 6 root words.

Use a dictionary if needed. Mark stress on each word.

  1. DECIDE
  2. HAPPY
  3. CARE
  4. AWARE
  5. AGREE
  6. POSSIBLE
Finish the homework, then check.
reading
Task 2

Collocation collection

Find 10 collocations with make/do/take/have from any English text and sort them into 4 groups.

Read any short English article. List which noun collocates with each verb.

  1. MAKE + ...
  2. DO + ...
  3. TAKE + ...
  4. HAVE + ...
grammar
Task 3

Mini open cloze

Complete an 8-gap open-cloze text with grammar words only.

No word bank provided — recall from memory, as in the real Part 2.

  1. I've been learning English ___ (1) five years.
  2. It's one ___ (2) the most useful skills I have.
  3. ___ (3) I find grammar difficult, I enjoy vocabulary.
  4. She has ___ (4) finished her homework already.
Finish the homework, then check.

Recap · Section 13

2–3 min

What you've learned

  • Part 1 (multiple-choice cloze) tests collocation between near-synonyms.
  • Part 2 (open cloze) tests grammar words recalled with NO options given.
  • Part 3 (word formation) tests transforming a root word to the right class and meaning.
  • Always read the whole sentence (or beyond) before committing to an answer.
  • The correct answer is often confirmed by a word AFTER the gap, not before it.
  • Treat each cloze task as one continuous text, not isolated questions.
Lesson 18 · Reading Part 7Lesson 20 · Speaking Part 4