Cloze: two options that both sound right
A student is working on a short cloze passage:
“The museum's new wing is almost entirely underground. From the lawn you notice only a low glass roof at ground level, (1) ___ the galleries themselves run the whole length of the building beneath your feet. The architect wanted the skyline to stay exactly as it was, and in this the new wing (2) ___ admirably.”
Options for (1): A. whereas B. so C. therefore D. otherwise Options for (2): A. succeeds B. achieves C. manages D. completes
Wei marks B for (1) - “the roof is low, so the galleries had to go underground” - and D for (2) - “the building completes the aim; it sounds natural when I read it aloud”. He is confident about both and has not reread the sentences after inserting his choices.
1. For blank (1), show why the result markers fail and what relation the sentence actually carries.
Read the worked answer
The two halves are not cause and effect: the galleries' running the full length is not produced by the roof being low. Both are facts about the same design, set against each other - modest above, enormous below. The relation is contrast, so “whereas/while” is required.
Quick test for result markers: ask whether the second clause would still be true if the first were removed or reversed. “The galleries run the length of the building” does not become false if the roof were tall; it simply stops being surprising. That is contrast, not consequence.
- “therefore” fails for the same reason as “so”, only more formally.
- “otherwise” needs a stated condition (“...; otherwise the galleries would have been visible”), and none is present.
Wei's error is a classic one: he supplied the causal link from his own knowledge of underground buildings rather than reading what the sentence asserts.
2. For blank (2), Wei chose D because it “reads naturally”. Give the grammatical reason A is the only fit, and a test he can use under exam pressure.
Read the worked answer
Look at what precedes the verb: “in this” is a prepositional phrase functioning as an adverbial. The verb must therefore be intransitive in this slot.
- succeeds - intransitive: “succeed in something”. Fits.
- achieves / completes - transitive: they require an object (achieve the aim, complete the work). “In this the building achieves” leaves the reader waiting for a noun that never comes.
- manages - either needs an object or a to-infinitive; bare “manages admirably” in this sense is not the intended collocation.
Test: substitute a pronoun object - “the building completes it” is grammatical, “the building succeeds it” is not. If the option only works when an object is supplied, it cannot stand where no object is offered. Reading aloud catches some errors and hides others: it detects awkwardness of sound but not a missing argument, which is exactly the fault here.
3. Wei asks whether reading the passage aloud is a legitimate technique at all. What is your answer, and where does it break down?
Read the worked answer
It is legitimate for a narrow band of cloze decisions and misleading outside it.
Where it works: collocation and idiomatic fit (“succeed admirably”, “a low glass roof”), and rhythm - a sentence missing its object often sounds unfinished, which is real signal.
Where it fails:
- Meaning relations (contrast vs result) sound equally smooth either way; only logic decides.
- Argument structure (transitive vs intransitive) is silent when the object's absence is not audible, as with “the building achieves admirably”.
- Cohesion across sentences - a pronoun with the wrong referent reads perfectly well in isolation.
A better routine costs ten seconds: insert the word, then reread the whole sentence plus the one after it, asking two questions - (i) what job does this word do here (contrast? result? condition?), and (ii) does the grammar of the slot allow it? Sound is a tiebreaker, never the first test.