Vocabulary Cloze

In this article, we will be learning about vocabulary cloze exercises. You will be provided with some questions (excerpts of full passages) and some words that are labelled with letters. To start working on vocabulary cloze, you need to keep the following points in mind.

• You will be given a short passage.
• You are given some helping words to help you fill in the blanks.
• You will need to look for clues in the text to help you fill in the blank with the most appropriate word:

Vocabulary Cloze Steps

Following are some of the steps that can help you solve vocabulary cloze questions.

• Step 1: Read the entire passage once through. Do not fill in the blanks at first.
• Step 2: Study the helping words given. Are they verbs? Are they adjectives? 
  
  Are they adverbs? Are they nouns?
   
• Step 3: Read through each paragraph, then look at each sentence.
• Step 4: Look for clues in the paragraph to help you match the correct word to the correct blank. You can try to identify the answer by guessing if the blank should be filled in by a verb, adjective or adverb. This helps you eliminate options for each blank.

How do I look for clues?

TIP: You have to look for words around the blank to give you an idea of what the blank requires to convey a complete idea/phrase/sentence.

Step 5: Check your answers! Does your answer make sense? Does your answer help you understand the sentence, paragraph and overall passage better?

Practice Questions

Passage 1

Let’s try this one! The passage below explains how Joline and her father make pizza.

As Joline loves to cook, she hopes to be a (1) __________, one day. One of her favourite dishes to make is pizza. She learnt how to make pizza from her father and he taught her how to make Hawaiian pizza.

First, they would make a trip to the neighbourhood supermarkets to purchase (2) __________ they may not have at home. Some of the ingredients they will need to make this dish are flour, warm water, a little yeast, some cooking oil and salt.

Once they are home, they will (3) __________ all the ingredients in a bowl and mix it thoroughly, until it forms a soft dough. They will leave the dough aside for it to rise and prepare the (4) __________ that go on the pizza, like the tomato sauce, mushroom, ham, pineapples, and mozzarella cheese.

Next, they will (5) __________ the dough so that it becomes a large circular shape. This is the base of their pizza. Then, they will spread an even layer of tomato sauce on it and (6) __________ the toppings on top. Lastly, they will sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese all over the pizza. They will need to bake the Hawaiian Pizza for 20 minutes. Once it is baked, they will enjoy it as a family!

Question 1:

Fill in the (1) blank.

Answer:

The correct answer to fill in the (1) blank is “chef”.

Question 2:

Fill in the (2) blank.

Answer:

The correct answer to fill in the (2) blank is “ingredients”. In the second line of the second paragraph, there is a hint where some of the ingredients are mentioned.

Question 3:

Fill in the (3) blank.

Answer:

The correct answer to fill in the (3) blank is “combine”. Now, there are 2 options which are making sense for the third blank - "combine" and "add". But, if you leave the blank for now with any of the above and continue with the passage, you will realise that in the 6^th passage, only "add" makes sense. So, the correct answer to this question is "combine".

Question 4:

Fill in the (4) blank.

Answer:

The correct answer to fill in the (4) blank is “toppings”.

Question 5:

Fill in the (5) blank.

Answer:

The correct answer to fill in the (5) blank is “flatten”.

Question 6:

Fill in the (6) blank.

Answer :

The correct answer to fill in the (6) blank is “add”.

Question 7:

When Jeff creates a new dish for his family to try and they tell him his food is delicious, he will be in high __________. It is his source of motivation to try to outdo himself each time he whips up a dish for his family.

1. Sets
2. Shapes
3. Spirits
4. Skies

Answer:

The correct answer to this question is option (3) - "spirits". High spirits mean being happy.

Question 8:

His family loves food and will usually __________ once every week over home-cooked food. His aunties, uncles and cousins will make this weekly trip so they can bond over food.

1. Gather
2. Beat
3. Enter
4. Jump

Answer:

The correct answer to this question is option (1) - “gather”. Gather means “to come together”.

Question 9:

Mickey loves Hokkien noodles so much, he could eat it every day. When he was younger, it was the dish he __________ to have at meal times.

1. excited
2. enjoyable
3. preferred
4. gave

Answer:

The correct answer to this question is option (3) - "preferred". We have to use the past tense here as it happened before or in the past. Options (1) & (2) are not making sense in the sentence. Option (4) - "gave" does not make sense here as it was the dish he used to like, so why he will give it away.

Question 10:

Over time, his mother realised he loved the noodles so much and taught him how to cook the dish. She would prepare the ingredients and allow him to pour the ingredients she needed, as she cooked. Before long, Mickey was able to __________ all the steps and he would repeat them to his mother, by heart.

1. think
2. memorise
3. cook
4. tossing

Answer:

The correct answer to this question is option (2) - “memorise”. “By heart” is a big clue in the passage as it means “in your memory”. Memorise means “to commit something in memory” or “remember something”.

Test Your Concepts

Answer the following questions based on the concepts we’ve covered in this article. If you get stuck, revisit the relevant section to revise the concepts.

Question 1:

Being part of a large extended family that loves and bonds with one another over food, the only __________ they have include how the food tastes or which dishes were better.

1. upset
2. squabbles
3. happiness
4. ingredients

Question 2:

Without the support from his family, he would have been so afraid to __________ cooking as a career. His family is the main reason why he has excelled at cooking.

1. go
2. reach
3. pursue
4. mix

Question 3:

When he was old enough, he began to learn to prepare the dish by himself. He __________ this dish by practising it over many years. Anyone who tried Mickey’s dish said it was the best Hokkien mee they had ever had.

1. practised
2. dedicated
3. drove
4. perfected

Question 4:

When his mother passed away, he decided to set up a hawker stall selling Hokkien noodles, as a way to remember her. Today, the stall is one of the most well-known and __________ stalls in Singapore. Mickey believes the only reason he experiences any form of success is due to his mother.

1. notorious
2. popular
3. warm
4. unknown