Question 1
(Please note: The following questions are part of a cloze test. They are interrelated, meaning that the information provided in each question is connected to the others.)
One crossing of the Atlantic is very much like _____, and people who cross it frequently do not _____ for the _____ of its interest.
The sentence compares one crossing with any second, unspecified crossing, so we need another (= one more of the same kind): One crossing is very much like another. Not the other: it would mean the second of only two crossings, and the Atlantic is crossed countless times. Other cannot stand alone as a singular pronoun, and one other sounds unnatural here.
Question 2
One crossing of the Atlantic is very much like _____, and people who cross it frequently do not _____ for the _____ of its interest.
A voyage is a long journey by sea, so it fits an Atlantic crossing, and the fixed collocation is make a voyage/journey. Not make the travel: travel is uncountable and general, so it is not used with the for a single trip, and do does not collocate with either noun here.
Question 3
One crossing of the Atlantic is very much like _____, and people who cross it frequently do not _____ for the _____ of its interest.
The fixed phrase for the sake of something means 'for the purpose of enjoying or getting it': frequent travellers do not cross for the sake of its interest, because the trip is no longer interesting to them. Reason, motive and cause are followed by for (the reason for), and none of them forms this idiom.
Question 4
Most of us are quite happy when we feel _____ to go to bed and pleased when the journey _____.
Enough comes after an adjective: tired enough to go to bed. Not enough tired: enough goes before nouns (enough time), not before adjectives. Feel is not reflexive here, so ourselves is wrong.
Question 5
Most of us are quite happy when we feel _____ to go to bed and pleased when the journey _____.
Be over means 'be finished': pleased when the journey is over. Not finish: the singular subject the journey would need finishes. A journey is not 'achieved', and is in the end is not English.
Question 6
On the first night this time, I felt especially lazy and went to bed _____ earlier than usual.
Before a comparative such as earlier, the natural degree word here is rather (= somewhat): rather earlier than usual. Not quite or fairly: they are not normally used before comparatives (quite earlier and fairly earlier are wrong). Somehow means 'in some way' and does not express degree.
Question 7
When I _____ my cabin, I was surprised _____ that I _____ a companion during my trip.
Arrive takes a preposition (in or at) before a place, while reach takes a direct object with no preposition (reached my cabin). So reached to and reached at are wrong, and arrive to is a common learner error. Only arrived in my cabin is grammatical.
Question 8
When I _____ my cabin, I was surprised _____ that I _____ a companion during my trip.
An adjective of feeling is followed by a to-infinitive for the cause of the feeling: I was surprised to see that…. Not at seeing: surprised at is normally followed by a noun (surprised at the news), not by seeing that + clause. For seeing is wrong, and that I saw leaves two that-clauses in a row.
Question 9
When I _____ my cabin, I was surprised _____ that I _____ a companion during my trip.
This is the future seen from the past: in past narration will have becomes would have (I saw that I would have a companion). Not should have had: that refers to a past obligation or expectation, not a future fact. Am to have is in the wrong tense, and ought to have expresses duty.
Question 10
I had expected _____ but there was a suitcase _____ mine in the opposite corner.
Expect is followed by a to-infinitive (expect to do), so the -ing options are wrong. Alone (= without anyone else) contrasts with the other person's suitcase in the cabin. Not to be lonely: lonely describes an unhappy feeling, not simply having no company.
Question 11
I had expected _____ but there was a suitcase _____ mine in the opposite corner.
To compare things we use the preposition like + noun or pronoun: a suitcase like mine. Not as: as a preposition it means 'in the role of', and as a conjunction it needs a clause. The correct forms are similar to and the same as, so similar than and the same that are wrong.
Question 12
I wondered who _____.
In indirect questions after wondered, the word order is the same as in a statement, with no inversion: who he could be. To ask about someone's character we use what is he like?, which becomes what he would be like. Not could he be… what would he be like: that keeps the direct-question word order.
Question 13
Soon afterwards he came in. He was the sort of man you might meet _____, except that he was wearing _____ good clothes that I made up my mind that we would not _____, _____, and did not say _____.
Anywhere (= in any place at all) describes a very ordinary man: the sort of man you might meet anywhere. Not somewhere: it means one particular, unknown place, so it does not show how ordinary he was. In each place and for all parts are not idiomatic.
Question 14
He was the sort of man you might meet _____, except that he was wearing _____ good clothes that I made up my mind that we would not _____, _____, and did not say _____.
Before an adjective + noun we use such, and this leads to a result clause with that: such good clothes that…. Clothes is plural, so there is no article: not such a. Not so: so is used before an adjective on its own (his clothes were so good that…).
Question 15
He was the sort of man you might meet _____, except that he was wearing _____ good clothes that I made up my mind that we would not _____, _____, and did not say _____.
Get on (well) together/with someone is a phrasal verb meaning 'have a friendly relationship': we would not get on well together. The other verbs do not form this meaning with together.
Question 16
He was the sort of man you might meet _____, except that he was wearing _____ good clothes that I made up my mind that we would not _____, _____, and did not say _____.
Whoever he was means 'it didn't matter who he was'. Like other clauses with -ever, it uses statement word order (he was), so whoever was he is wrong. However refers to manner or degree, not to a person's identity.
Question 17
He was the sort of man you might meet _____, except that he was wearing _____ good clothes that I made up my mind that we would not _____, _____, and did not say _____.
Say takes the thing said as its object and the listener after to: say a single word to him. Not say him a word: unlike tell, say cannot take the person as an indirect object. The sentence already has did not, so not one word to him would add a second negative.
Question 18
I suppose I slept for several hours because when I woke up it was the middle of the night. I felt cold but covered _____ _____ and tried to _____.
With a phrasal verb, a pronoun object goes between the verb and the particle: covered myself up. The subject is I, so the reflexive pronoun myself is needed. Not up myself: a pronoun cannot follow the particle, and me is not used for the subject's own action here.
Question 19
I felt cold but covered _____ _____ and tried to _____.
As well as I could means 'to the best of my ability' and uses the comparison pattern as + adverb + as. Not so well as: in modern English so… as is used mainly after a negative (not so well as). The that options express result or purpose, which makes no sense here.
Question 20
I felt cold but covered _____ _____ and tried to _____.
Go back to sleep is the fixed expression for starting to sleep again after waking. Here sleep is a noun, as in go to sleep, so go back to sleeping sounds unnatural. Put myself to sleep again is not idiomatic in this situation.
Question 21
Then I realized that a draught was coming from somewhere. I got up _____ the door but found it already locked from the inside.
A to-infinitive shows purpose: I got up to shut the door. Not for shutting: we do not use for + -ing for a person's purpose. In order that I shut is awkward and in the wrong tense, and so as for shutting is not English (the correct form is so as to shut).
Question 22
The cold air was coming from the window opposite. I crossed the room and _____, the moon shone through it on to the other bed.
Do so replaces an action already mentioned (crossing the room), and as means 'while/at the moment that': as I did so, the moon shone…. Not as I did like that: do like that cannot replace an earlier verb phrase. At doing so is not English.
Question 23
_____ there.
To say that something does or does not exist in a place, we use there is/was: There was no one there. Not It was no one: it refers to something already known. It was any one and There was any one are wrong because any in a statement needs a negative verb (There wasn't anyone).
Question 24
It took me a minute or two to _____ the door myself.
Remember + -ing means recalling an action you did earlier: the narrator suddenly recalls that he had locked the door himself, so nobody could have left that way. Not remember to lock: that means not forgetting to do something in the future. Remind needs a person as its object (remind someone to do).
Question 25
I realized that my companion _____ through the window into the sea.
Must have + past participle is a confident conclusion about the past. The door was locked from the inside and the window was open, so the only explanation is that he must have jumped. Not had to jump: that means he was forced to. Was to have jumped means a plan that did not happen, and could be jumped is a wrong passive form.
Print this test
Free worksheets for class or home