Reading - Part B. Short Cloze Passages
Reading - Part B. Short Cloze Passages
Part B presents several short passages, each with numbered blanks and four choices per blank. Unlike Part A, the deciding evidence may sit in another sentence, so this part tests cohesion: reference, connectors, tense sequencing, and vocabulary that fits the paragraph's topic.
Procedure
- Read the entire passage once, ignoring the blanks, and establish what it is about and where it is going.
- Fill the blanks you are sure of first; they narrow the remaining choices.
- For each blank, check both directions: what does it refer back to, and what does the following clause require?
What the blanks test
- Reference chains: pronouns must agree in gender and number - das Mädchen is referred to with es. Da- and wo- compounds must repeat the verb's preposition: sich freuen auf → worauf? / darauf.
- Connector logic: addition (außerdem, zudem), contrast (allerdings, jedoch, dagegen, dennoch), cause (da, denn, weil), result (deshalb, daher, folglich), restatement (das heißt, mit anderen Worten), sequence (zunächst, schließlich).
- Word order as a clue: after deshalb, trotzdem, außerdem, allerdings the verb comes second, so the blank is immediately followed by a verb; after weil, obwohl, da the finite verb moves to the end.
- Tense and mood: narrative Präteritum versus conversational Perfekt; Plusquamperfekt for an earlier event; Konjunktiv II (wäre, hätte, würde) for hypothetical or unreal conditions.
- Voice: passive with von + Dative for an agent, durch + Accusative for means.
Worked example
Die Stadt wollte den Verkehr im Zentrum reduzieren. ___ beschloss der Stadtrat, eine neue Buslinie einzuführen. Viele Bürger waren zunächst skeptisch, ___ die Bauarbeiten monatelang dauern sollten.
Blank 1 (Deshalb / Trotzdem / Außerdem / Allerdings): the second sentence is the consequence of the first, and the inverted verb beschloss confirms a result connector. Deshalb. Blank 2 (obwohl / weil / damit / sobald): the clause explains the skepticism, so a cause connector with verb-final order is required - weil die Bauarbeiten ... dauern sollten. Weil.
Traps that cost marks
- A choice that is grammatically perfect but breaks the argument - local fit is not enough.
- da read as causal when the passage uses it temporally (da = at that time).
- Ignoring the word after the blank: an inverted verb rules out weil and obwohl.
- Wrong pronoun gender or number across sentences.
- Switching tense mid-narrative without a time marker that justifies it.