Cloze Test and Summary: Filling Gaps and Capturing the Whole
The Cloze Test gives a continuous passage with numbered gaps; for each gap you choose the option that best completes the text. The Summary items ask you to select the option that best summarises the passage or a stated part of it. The cloze tests collocation, prepositions, connectors and lexical fit; the summary tests whether you can compress without distorting.
How to attack a cloze passage
- Read the whole passage once without filling anything; the topic and tense frame the answers.
- Decide the part of speech the gap needs (noun, verb, preposition, connector) before looking at options.
- Test collocation and fixed preposition: depend on, consist of, comply with, in spite of, result in, capable of.
- Test connector logic: contrast (however, nevertheless, whereas), addition (moreover, besides), cause/effect (therefore, consequently, hence), concession (although, even though).
- Check agreement and number: the gap word may need to be plural to match a plural verb.
Worked example
The heavy rains continued for days; ___, the farmers expected a good harvest. Options: A. however B. therefore C. nevertheless D. otherwise. Answer: B. Rain continuing is the cause, a good harvest the effect, so a cause-result connector is needed. However and nevertheless signal contrast; otherwise signals a condition that would change the outcome. The semicolon plus comma tells you a sentence adverb is required.
Summary items
The right option states the passage's central point and its stance. Reject options that are too narrow (one example), too broad (a claim covering more than the passage), or that flip the writer's attitude.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing a connector that sounds formal but reverses the logic.
- Ignoring the preposition the gap controls.
- In summary items, picking an option that is true but only a detail.
- Filling a gap with a word that duplicates the meaning of a nearby word.