Name: ________________ Date: _____________

Class: ________________

Grammar Cloze (10 marks)

There are 10 blanks, numbered 1 to 10, in the passage below. From the list of
words given, choose the most suitable word for each blank. Write its letter (A
to Q) in the blank. The letters (I) and (O) have been omitted to avoid
confusion during marking.

EACH WORD CAN BE USED ONLY ONCE

(A) a (D) are (G) how (K) than (N) through

(B) an (E) down (H) is (L) then (P) was
(C) and (F) from (J) of (M) this (Q) were

TOKYO: Millions of people in greater Tokyo were stranded far away

from home on Friday evening after Japan's biggest earthquake on record shut

down the capital's massive subway system. Sirens wailed

(1)_______________Tokyo, television helicopters buzzed overhead and

people rushed to the city's ubiquitous 24-hour convenience stores, quickly

emptying shelves (2)________________bento boxes, sandwiches and instant

noodle cups. Countless workers, who had earlier fled violently swaying office

blocks, found themselves stuck far (3)_________________their families --

and unable to speak to them because the overloaded mobile phone system

could not carry most calls. "I have no idea (4)_____________ I'll get home,"

said (5)__________________18-year-old woman waiting outside Ginza

subway station. The government used loudspeaker alerts and television

broadcasts to urge people to stay near their workplaces rather

(6)_________________risk long walks home, as highways leading out of the

city centre (7)________________choked and hotels quickly booked out. The

spaghetti-like railway grid of the Tokyo Metro System

(8)_______________Japan Railway lines criss-crossing the megacity

remained shut (9)_______________ for hours after the 8.9-magnitude

monster quake violently shook buildings across the city. Despite the scale of

the disaster, Tokyo (10)________________spared the worst by the quake,

which hit offshore and spawned a tsunami that devastated coastal areas.

Adapted from http://www.channelnewsasia.com

Answer Key

Grammar Cloze

1. (N) through 3. (F) from 5. (B) an 7. (Q) were 9. (E) down

2. (J) of 4. (G) how 6. (k) than 8. (C) and 10. (P) was