How to approach Cloze Test?

Once you have mastered your English Grammar and have developed a good Vocabulary, it’s time to apply this knowledge of yours. Cloze test is the application part of English, just like Para Jumbles and Reading Comprehension. It tests how well you can apply the concepts learned in real life settings.

You must develop a mastery on this section of the paper, because in most of the exams you can solve Cloze test questions pretty quickly and with high accuracy rate, even with decent command on English. This is a section that will maximize your score in English section.

What is a Cloze Test?

In a cloze test a paragraph or two are given with many blank spaces. You are supposed to read the paragraph and fill-in-the-blanks based on:

• the context of the passage
• appropriate grammar rules
• right choice of words based on the context, the tone of the passage etc.

So, basically a Cloze test is a hybrid of fill-in-the-blanks and reading comprehension passages.

Aspects of a Word

We know that there may be many words that mean almost the same thing, but may differ in aspects like:

• Context- a word may have different meanings in different contexts. For example, consider the word ‘cell’. In a passage based on biology, it will most probably mean the basic structural unit of life. On the other hand, it other contexts it may also mean - a battery, a cell phone or a room in a prison.
• Strength - Some words convey the same meaning, but they differ in their strength. One word may convey more emotions/feelings than the other. For example, both hate and abhor mean the same thing, but abhor carries more strength. Abhor means very strong degree of hate.
• Connotation - words may carry positive, neutral or negative connotations with them. So, even if two words may mean the same thing, we should not use a word carrying a negative connotation in a place where the tone of the passage is positive. For example, “It is below me.” and “It is beneath me.” carry very different meanings, even though ‘below’ and ‘beneath’ are synonyms. ‘below’ has a neutral connotation, while ‘beneath’ often carry a negative connotation. Here, “It is beneath me” means - something too shameful for an honourable person to do.

So, some questions may check your:

• Grammar - e.g. right usage of prepositions, adverbs etc.
• Some may check not only your vocabulary but also whether you know the proper usage of those words based on context, tone, strength, connotation etc. So, just rote memorization of words and their meanings will not be sufficient, you should also have to be an avid reader. Only then you will get a command on the proper usage of words.

Of course, you will be provided with 4 or 5 options, depending on the exam you are appearing for. You will just have to choose the appropriate word. It will ease your task a bit.

Hope you now understand why we called a Cloze Test the application part of English. Just knowing Grammar rules and Vocab won’t help you much here. You must also know how to apply those in the context of the passage.

How to Approach a Cloze Test?

Now, let us see how we should go about tackling this section of our objective English paper. We will take help of some examples to do so.

Scan the whole passage quickly

You should scan (quickly read) the whole passage first of all. This way you will get to know the theme, subject-matter, context and tone of the passage, i.e. whether the author is just describing something (descriptive/narrative), or giving his opinions, he is positive in his outlook, humorous or neutral or negative/critical/sarcastic, etc. It will help you a lot in choosing the right word from the options, especially if the options are very close in meaning. But do it within 15-20 seconds. Do not waste much time on it.

However, if the passage is very easy, or you have gained mastery over Cloze test through vigorous practice, you may just start reading the passage and start filling up the blanks in one go.

Remember that the sentences are linked

The difference between a simple fill-in-the-blank and a cloze test is that the phrases, clauses and sentences in a cloze test may be linked and influence each other. So, in a cloze test context is important. You cannot read the sentences as separate sentences, as we do in case of simple fill-in-the-blanks questions. Keep this in mind.

Read the following two examples, and try to fill-in-the-blank with appropriate word:

Set 1: North Korea has warned the NATO countries not to try to spy on its nuclear program. ____, no official team from the UN can inspect its nuclear facilities. (However/Moreover)

Set 2: North Korea has warned the NATO countries not to try to spy on its nuclear program. ____, an official team from the UN can inspect its nuclear facilities. (However/Moreover)

In Set 1, on reading both the sentences together we can see that both the sentences are negating the rights of any foreign agency to inspect or spy on North Korea’s nuclear program (i.e. both have a negative tone). So, the second sentence is only extending the point made in the first sentence. Use of ‘Moreover’ will be more appropriate here, as it denotes that something is being added to what has been said already.

In Set 2, we can see that the second sentence is allowing UN to inspect. So, the two sentences are opposite in tone. Use of ‘However’ will be more appropriate here.

Try to find out the Part of Speech

You should try to garner some idea regarding the kind of word that you need to use - noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, conjunction, proposition, or article. The words given in the options may also provide you some clue.

Frequently used Word Combinations

Some words in English language are often used together, e.g. phrasal verbs, or just on the basis of convention. If you are an avid reader, you will be able to identify the more frequently used word combination pretty easily. Let’s consider an example.

The manager wants to have a ___ word with you. (fast/prompt/quick)

Though all the three options mean nearly the same thing, the word ‘quick’ is often used with the word ‘word’, e.g. Can I have a quick word with you? To a well-read person, the phrase ‘quick word’ will sound fine, while ‘fast word’ or ‘prompt word’ will sound strange and odd.

Some other similar frequently used word pairs are: bad habit, happily married, happy ending, take a seat, make room, work hard etc.

These are the minor nitty-gritties of the language that you cannot learn by just mugging up grammar rules and words from a dictionary. It can only be developed by reading articles, newspapers, and books in general.

Try to eliminate wrong options

Remember, it’s a multiple-choice question. So, the answer in right in front of your eyes. You may find out the correct answer, or you may eliminate the incorrect answers. Both approaches are fine. In fact, sometimes it is much easier to eliminate 2, 3 or all of the incorrect options, than it is to choose the correct one. So, make sure that you are making use of the options provided to you. It’s absolutely essential.

Keep an eye on certain keywords

Just as in reading comprehension, even in cloze test there may be some keywords that may provide you with some clue regarding the right word. It will be easier to explain it using an example.

“Generally, the campaigns against foreign plants are pointless. ___ invasive species are neither terribly successful nor very harmful” (Most/All/Some/Few)

The keyword here is “Generally”. So, the first sentence is conveying a message that most of the campaigns against foreign plants are pointless or useless, but some may have some use. So, it means that some of the foreign plants may cause harm to the local biodiversity, but not all. So, we can eliminate ‘All’. ‘Few’ has a negative connotation, and the second sentence is already negative (because of neither/nor). So, it would not be appropriate to use ‘Few’ here.

Now, we need to choose between ‘Most’ and ‘Some’. If we read the first sentence again, then the tone of the passage will give you a clue. The writer is trying to put forward his argument, wherein the first sentence is his conclusion - ‘Generally’ means that in most of the cases. It denotes the general trend. The second sentence is the reason behind his conclusion. So, the second sentence should strongly support the first sentence. Use of ‘Some’ will not solve this purpose, as it’s not strong enough. Some may mean one to many. When we say ‘Most’, it conveys a meaning that more than 50% or more of the invasive species are neither terribly successful nor very harmful. That’s what makes the campaigns against them pointless.

The above example shows the importance of understanding the:

• role of keywords
• link between different sentences
• tone of the passage - it will decide whether we should use positive, negative or neutral words, and whether we should go for words with strong or weak strength.
• process of elimination of options

Hope you got an idea regarding what a cloze test is, how to approach it, the things you need to keep in mind while attempting it etc. Now go on and start practicing. The more you will practice, the more you will know about your strengths and weaknesses.

Analysing your performance in a test is much more important than just attempting a lot of tests and questions. Look for the areas where you are committing mistakes on a regular basis. Maybe you are weak in the usage of prepositions, or adverbs. If you know your weakness, you have already solved half of the problem. Just revise those parts of the grammar. If you find that your vocabulary is weak, learn 10 words each day and try to use them in sentences.

Practice and Analyze and then Revise/Learn your concepts. Keep on repeating the process till you gain enough confidence.

At the end, your reading habit will play the most important role. Develop eclectic reading habits, i.e. read about various subject-areas, like science, geography, history, economy, psychology, philosophy, technology etc. Read English newspaper regularly, and do read some stories/novels. You will be easily able to comprehend passages that are based on an area that you are well-versed in. Also, the number of mistakes that you commit will decrease substantially. It’s a fun way (and the best way) to reach to your goal of total command on English language.

Extra Books and Tools

If you prefer to learn via books, or want some good English Grammar books for reference purposes, you may read this article which enlists some of the books recommended by us.