Short passages and dialogues: completing and reading a conversation
What is tested
These items give you a short dialogue with a blank, or a two-to-four-line exchange, and ask you to choose the line that fits, to identify where the scene happens, or to judge how a speaker feels. What is being measured is not grammar alone but the function of each line: is it a request, an invitation, an apology, a refusal, a piece of information?
Core rules
- Read the whole exchange, not just the blank. The blank is fixed by the line before it and by the line after it, so check both sides after choosing.
- Match the function of the question. A yes/no question needs Yes/No plus a reason. A wh-question needs information, never yes/no. A Could you ~? request needs an action or a refusal, not a comment on ability.
- Keep the relationship in mind: the politeness level to a teacher differs from the one used with a close friend.
- For pronouns such as it, that, one, this, trace the noun back to the previous line and confirm the number matches.
Worked example
A: Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the city library? B: (1) Yes, I could. (2) Sure. Go straight and turn left at the second corner. (3) No, I don't like libraries. Reasoning: Could you tell me how to get to ~? is an indirect question asking for directions, not a question about ability, so (1) answers the wrong thing. (3) misreads the sentence as being about liking libraries. (2) supplies the route. Answer: (2).
Traps that cost marks
- Options that are grammatically perfect but answer a question nobody asked.
- Replies that repeat the question's words instead of responding to its meaning.
- Ignoring the final line, which may contradict the option you have already picked.
- Missing feeling words such as I'm afraid, Luckily, That's too bad that carry the emotional answer.