Use of English - Open Cloze
C1
Cambridge English C1 Exam
For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. Click the gaps to type your answer.
Climate Change: The Hidden Costs
Talking about climate change can feel (0) LIKE a never-ending loop: new reports, new records, and the same old arguments. But the perils are no longer something that happens “somewhere else”. In many places, heatwaves are lasting (1) .......... than they used to, and nights stay warm enough to make proper sleep difficult. What catches people out is how quickly one problem turns (2) .......... another. A drought can shrink harvests; then food prices rise; then governments have to decide (3) .......... to subsidise essentials or let households absorb the shock. Meanwhile, heavier rainfall can overwhelm drains, and homes that were never considered at risk end up (4) .......... water. It’s also easy to forget that climate change isn’t only about weather. It affects health, jobs, and even where people can afford to live. Insurance companies, for instance, may refuse to cover properties in high-risk areas, which leaves owners (5) .......... a safety net when the next storm hits. And although individual choices matter, the scale of the issue means we can’t fix it (6) .......... ourselves. The real question is (7) .......... we act early—while changes are still manageable—or wait until adaptation costs become the new normal. Either way, the longer we delay, the harder it is to pretend (8) .......... nothing is happening.
About Use of English Open Cloze — Cambridge English C1
In this Cambridge English C1 Use of English Open Cloze exercise you read a short text and think of the one word that best fits each of the 8 gaps.
Open Cloze tests grammar and common fixed expressions — articles, prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs and linking words. Only one word goes in each gap, and it is usually a small grammatical word rather than vocabulary.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many gaps are in this C1 Open Cloze exercise?
There are 8 gaps, and you must write exactly one word in each.
What kind of words go in the gaps?
Usually grammatical words: prepositions, articles, pronouns, auxiliaries, relative pronouns and parts of fixed phrases.
What is the best strategy for Open Cloze?
Read the whole text first for meaning, then look closely at the words around each gap — the answer almost always depends on the immediate grammar.
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What to do
This part consists of a short text with a series of gaps. There are no words from which to choose the answers, candidates have to think of a word which fits the gap correctly.
Errors in punctuation are ignored, although spelling must be correct.
Contractions (e.g. don’t, we’ve, won’t) count as two words. However, can’t is a contraction of cannot, which is one word.
Sometimes, there is more than one correct answer. Cambridge will always account for this and all options will be accepted. However, you should not write more than one answer.
Don't spend time in a word you don't know. Wasting time on this activity might cost you points later in the exam because you won’t have enough time to do other tasks well.
Strategy
- Read the title and the whole text so that you understand what it is about.
- Read the whole sentence in which the gap occurs, to look for clues as to what kind of word you need.
- Check the words before and after each gap and look for grammatical collocations.
- Remember you must write only one word.
- You are never required to write a contraction. If you think the answer is a contraction, it must be wrong, so think again.
- Read the whole text through once you have completed it to make sure you have not missed any connectors, plurals or negatives.