GUIDELINES FOR SECTION B (RATIONAL CLOZE)

 SECTION B (RATIONAL CLOZE)

- Test on the usage of Grammar – in Paper 1 under Section B (Rational Cloze)

- Given a passage with 8 blanks (Questions 11 – 18)
- Require to fill each blank with one suitable grammar item.
- Given 3 or 4 options (A, B and C or A, B, C and D) for each question. Choose
the best answer

 Grammar items which are commonly tested in the examination are :

a) tenses
b) articles
c) subject – verb agreement
d) conjunctions
e) prepositions
f) adjectives
g) adverbs – smoothly, gracefully
h) pronouns

 GUIDELINES
- Allocate only about 10 minutes for this section
- First, read through the whole passage to get the gist.
- While reading, look out for clues that may help you to identify the answers that
may be found in the passage.
- Next, look at the context of the blank, that is, the words that come before and
after the blank. These words may act as clues to identify the correct answer.
- Check the tenses, subject-verb agreement, parts of speech and vocabulary.
- Choose the best answer from the options A, B and C or A, B, C and D for each
blank. Eliminate those options that are clearly incorrect.
- Finally, read through the whole text again to make sure that your answers are
grammatically correct and that the passage itself makes sense.
 Some tips to remember :
1) ‘do / does / did’ and ‘to’ – always followed by based form of verbs

2) Modal verbs

E.g will / would, shall / should, can / could, may / might, ought to, etc. – always
followed by based form of verbs

3) ‘before’, ‘while’, ‘when’ or ‘after’ – normally followed by present participles

(verb + -ing)

4) a) ‘a’ for singular countable nouns that begin with consonant sounds
b) 'an’ for singular countable nouns that begin with vowel sounds (a, e, i, o,
u) or (silent ‘h’)
c) ‘the’ is used for unique words or words that have already been mentioned.

5) a) Plural forms – they, we, them, us, theirs, etc

b) Singular forms – he, she, it, his, hers, its, etc

6) Subject-verb agreement
a) singular subject takes singular verb
(i) add ‘s’, ‘es’, ‘ies’ to verbs
(ii) use of ‘has’, ‘is’, ‘does’

b) plural subject takes plural verb (including I and You)

(i) takes plural verb – no ‘s’ to verbs
(ii) use of ‘have’, ‘do’, ‘are’, etc .
(iii) but for ‘I’ – use ‘am’, ‘was’