Use of English - Open Cloze
C2
Cambridge English C2 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.
Art and Collective Trauma
In societies emerging from conflict, art is often praised not merely for its beauty but for its capacity to reshape memory. It can give form to grief that would otherwise remain diffuse, and it can do so (0) IN ways that public discourse rarely manages. Yet this process is valuable only in (1) .......... as it avoids turning suffering into spectacle. No sooner (2) .......... a community begin to narrate its losses through murals, theatre or music than disagreements arise over who has the right to speak (3) .......... whom. Some artists insist that they are speaking (4) .......... the dead; others reject that claim, arguing that art should speak (5) .......... loss rather than for those who endured it. The distinction matters, because a shift in preposition may alter the verb's meaning entirely and, with it, the ethics of representation. A work that dwells (6) .......... pain may deepen reflection, whereas one that trades (7) .......... pain may appear exploitative. In professional debate, therefore, critics tend to judge such works not only by aesthetic standards but also by whether they contribute (8) .......... a shared, if uneasy, process of repair.
About Use of English Open Cloze — Cambridge English C2
In this Cambridge English C2 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 C2 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.