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.
Storing Green Power
Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are essential (0) FOR reducing carbon emissions, but storing the electricity they produce remains a major challenge. One reason is that energy generation does not always coincide (1) .......... periods of high demand. Solar panels, for instance, produce nothing at night, while wind farms may generate power when it is least needed. As a result, engineers are searching (2) .......... efficient ways to store surplus electricity and release it later. Batteries are currently the best-known option, but they are expensive and depend (3) .......... materials that are not always easy to obtain. In addition, large-scale battery systems lose some energy in the process of storing it and converting it back (4) .......... usable power. Another difficulty lies in the fact that no single storage method is suitable (5) .......... every situation. Pumped hydro works well in mountainous regions, but it cannot be built just anywhere. Hydrogen is often presented as a promising alternative; however, it requires a great deal of energy to produce and is difficult to transport safely. Until storage technology improves, renewable systems will continue to rely, at least partly, (6) .......... backup sources or highly flexible grids. What experts agree (7) .......... is that investment in storage is just as important as investment in generation itself. Without it, the transition to clean energy will be far more difficult (8) .......... many people assume.
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.