Grammar and Vocabulary in Context (適語選択・空所補充)
Here the paper gives dialogues and short texts with blanks, and sometimes a word box. The test is not memory of rules in isolation but whether you can read the clues around a blank: time expressions, subject, and the word that follows it.
Read clues on both sides of the blank
- A time expression decides the tense: now, yesterday, since 2019, for ten years, tomorrow.
- The subject decides agreement and pronoun case.
- The word right after the blank decides form: a preposition takes a gerund (good at swimming), a modal takes the base form (can swim), a comparative takes "than".
Contrasts that recur
- for + length of time / since + starting point → present perfect.
- tell + person / say to person; borrow (take) vs lend (give).
- too + adjective + to do / so + adjective + that … cannot / adjective + enough to do.
- another + singular noun / other + plural noun / the other(s).
- one of the + superlative + plural noun takes a singular verb.
Worked example
"My brother ( ) in Hamamatsu since 2019." (1) lives (2) lived (3) has lived (4) is living Reasoning: "since 2019" gives a starting point and the situation clearly continues, which calls for the present perfect. (1) would need "now" or a habitual marker; (2) closes the period; (4) suggests a temporary arrangement. Answer: (3).
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing by how a sentence "sounds" in Japanese rather than by the grammar clue.
- Missing a negative or a question inversion in the surrounding sentence.
- Relative pronouns: who for people, which for things; dropping the object pronoun ("the book I bought").
- Confusing "How long" (duration) with "How soon" (future) and "How often" (frequency).
- Vocabulary pairs: wear/put on, bring/take, few/little, look/watch/see.