GAPS FILLING

Various types of gap-fill task:

 Fill the gaps in a summary with words from the passage.
 Fill the gaps in a summary using words from a given list.
 Fill the gaps to complete a table of information.
 Fill the gaps to label a diagram
1. SUMMARY COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Task Completing a summary by filling in the gaps using words from the passage or
words given in a box
Skills
- Scanning for specific information in the passage
- Understanding ideas and supporting points
- Selecting appropriate words
Tips
- Identify the type of word needed for each gap(noun/verb/adjective…)
- Locate the information in the passage in order to choose the right word
- If you choose words from the passage, check how many words can be used for each
answer
- Answers usually come in order
- The summary must be grammatically correct which can help you in choosing the right
word for the gap
2. SENTENCE COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Task Completing sentences by filling in the gap with words from the passage
Skills
- Scanning for specific information
- Selecting appropriate words
- Understanding information in the passage
Tips
- Identify the type of word for each gap(noun/verb/adjective…)
- Locate the information in the passage in order to choose the right word
- Check how many words can be used for each answer
- Answers usually come in order
- The sentences must be grammatically correct which can help you in choosing the right
word for the gap
3. TABLE COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Task Completing the table using the correct word from the passage
Skills
 - Locating specific information in the passage
- Choosing appropriate words
- Understanding details
Tips
- Read the column headings in the table
- Identify the type of word needed for each part of the table
- Scan the passage for information
- Answers are often located in a specific part of the passage
- Check how many words you can use for the answer
4. FLOWCHART COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Task Completing the flow chart using the correct words from the passage
Skills
- Locating specific information in the passage
- Choosing appropriate words
- Understanding details and order of information
Tips
- Identify the type of word needed for each part of the flow chart
- Scan the passage for information
- Answers do not always come in order
- Use the direction of the arrows and boxes to follow the order of information in the
chart
- Select the appropriate words from the passage
- Check the number of words that can be used for each answer
5. DIAGRAM COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Task Labelling a diagram
Skills
- Locating information in the passage
- Relating the information to the diagram
- Choosing appropriate words
Tips
- Identify the type of word needed for the answer (noun/verb/adjective…)
- Find the information in the passage
- The information is usually located in one specific paragraph or two in the passage
- Check how many words can be used for the answer
- Answers do not always come in order
PRACTICE
Practice 1 Read the following text about universities.
Religion was central to the curriculum of early European universities. However, its role
became less significant during the 19th century, and by the end of the 1800s, the German
university model, based on more liberal values, had spread around the world. Universities
concentrated on science in the 19th and 20th centuries, and became increasingly accessible
to the masses. In Britain, the move from industrial revolution to modernity saw the arrival
of new civic universities with an emphasis on science and engineering.
The funding and organisation of universities vary widely between different countries
around the world. In some countries, universities are predominantly funded by the state,
while in others, funding may come from donors or from fees which students attending the
university must pay.
Complete the sentences below with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the
passage.
1. The German university model, which became popular in the 19th century, promoted
______.
2. Over the last 200 years, a university education has become ______ the general public.
3. Depending on the country, universities may be funded by the state, by donors, or by
feepaying ______.

Practice 2 Gap-fill from words in the box

Read the passage and complete the summary using words from the box below it.
NB You will not need to use all of the words.

Bilinguals and Personality

Many people believe that bilinguals have two different personalities, one for each of the
languages they speak, and that switching between languages makes bilinguals act
differently. Although this may seem unbelievable to some, research actually supports this
idea.
According to various studies, bilinguals who are also bicultural and are actively involved
in both of their cultures, interpret situations differently depending on which language they
speak in. Although everyone, monolinguals and bilinguals alike, is able to change the way
they feel and interpret events (a phenomenon known as frame-shifting), biculturals do this
without realising when switching between languages.
The changes are not only linguistic. As an English-Spanish bicultural myself I do find I act
differently depending on which culture I'm immersed in at the time. I'm often aware of the
fact that when I speak to other Spanish speakers my voice is slightly louder and I
gesticulate more than when I talk to English speakers. Could we then say that bilinguals
have two different personalities?
(Source: bilingualbicultural.com)
Summary
There is some (1) _____ to show that people who are bilingual exhibit a different (2)
_____ depending on which language they are speaking. Some bilinguals also have two (3)
_____ cultural identities, meaning that they are able to (4) _____ their behaviour
effortlessly according to their cultural (5) _____. This may involve changes in (6) _____ of
speech or in the use of (7) _____ language.
Practice 3 Read the following text about pedestrian zones in cities.
A large number of European towns and cities have made part of their centres car-free since
the early 1960s. These are often accompanied by car parks on the edge of the
pedestrianised zone, and, in the larger cases, park and ride schemes. Central Copenhagen is
one of the largest and oldest examples: the auto-free zone is centred on Strøget, a
pedestrian shopping street, which is in fact not a single street but a series of interconnected
avenues which create a very large auto-free zone, although it is crossed in places by streets
with vehicular traffic. Most of these zones allow delivery trucks to service the businesses
located there during the early morning, and street-cleaning vehicles will usually go through
these streets after most shops have closed for the night.
In North America, where a more commonly used term is pedestrian mall, such areas are
still in their infancy. Few cities have pedestrian zones, but some have pedestrianised single
streets. Many pedestrian streets are surfaced with cobblestones, or pavement bricks, which
discourage any kind of wheeled traffic, including wheelchairs. They are rarely completely
free of motor vehicles.
Fill the gaps below with NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS from the text.
1.In some cases, people are encouraged to park ________ of the town or city centre.
2.The only vehicles permitted in most pedestrian zones are those used for ________ or
________ cleaning.
3.Certain types of road surface can be used to ________ traffic.
Practice 4 Read the following text about power-packed fliers.
POWER-PACKED FLIERS

For their size, birds are tremendously powerful creatures. We know this thanks to an
ingenious series of tests performed by researchers at Duke University in North Carolina.
The researchers placed a specially trained budgerigar in a wind tunnel and measured how
much muscle power it needed to maintain flight at various airspeeds up to 50 kilometres
per hour. The small bird had to be trained, not only because it had to fly in the artificial
environment of the wind tunnel, but also because it had to do so while wearing a tiny
oxygen mask.
The mask allowed zoologist Vance Tucker and his colleagues to monitor the budgerigar’s
oxygen demand, and thus the amount of mechanical energy it was producing. What they
discovered was experimental proof of the incredible power to-weight ratio of birds.
Tucker’s team found that the 35- gram budgerigar’s flight muscles were delivering a peak
power of one to four watts to maintain continuous flight. That might not sound very much
on its own, but it’s pretty impressive when the bird’s size is taken into account: it works
out as 200 watts of continuous mechanical power for every kilogram of the bird’s muscle
mass. And that’s the reason that people have always failed when they tried to fly by
flapping wings attached to their arms: the average human can only produce around ten
watts per kilogram of their muscle mass. It’s not that we never had the time to fly – we
have simply never had the energy. To fly, people need machines and to make a flying
machine, we need to understand how birds control their flight.
Use no more than THREE WORDS to fill in the blank
1. Scientists have done experiments on birds in a____________.
2. The birds reached a maximum hourly flight distance of____________.
3. The aim of scientists was to calculate the amount of ____________ they needed to fly.
Practice 5 Read the following text and answer the questions from 1 to 6
SILENCE IS NOT ALWAYS GOLDEN

A global survey has found that city dwellers have better hearing than people who live in
quiet villages, and scientists now believe that the ear needs exercise to keep in shape.
A team of scientists at the University of Giessen, Germany, has spent over a decade testing
the hearing of more than 10,000 people around the world. As expected, people exposed to
extremely loud noises at work, such as construction workers, had poor hearing. But the
hearing of those living in quiet, rural areas, such as farmers, was just as bad. Orchestral
musicians and airline pilots, by contrast, can usually hear well despite exposure to noise at
work. And there is little difference between people who go to noisy concerts and those who
do not.
Hearing specialists have long believed that prolonged exposure to excessively loud noise
degrades hearing and so industrial standards are based on people’s average exposure to
sound energy. However, it is the very strong impulses, such as loud bangs, that do the most
damage, whereas exposure to continual noise 'trains' the ear to tolerate it.
Use no more than TWO WORDS to fill in the blanks
NOTES
 Research shows: need to train the ear to make it work well
 Geographical research area: (1) …………………………………
 Examples of people with poor hearing: (2) …………………………………
(3) …………………………………
 and good hearing:
(4) …………………………………
(5) …………………………………
 Most dangerous type of noise: (6) …………………………………
Practice 6 Read the following text and answer the questions from 1 to 5
GOLD BUGS

Medieval alchemists found, in the end, that they could not create gold. Modern
geochemists have a similar problem. They find it hard to understand how natural gold
deposits from. There is much handwaving about gold-rich fluids from deep in the earth,
and chemical precipitation, but the physics does not add up. The answer may be that what
is happening is not geochemical at all, but biochemical. And a casual experiment
conducted by a bacteriologist may hold the key. Derek Lovley, of the University of
Massachusetts, has been studying “metal-eating” bacteria for two decades. These bacteria
make their living by converting the dissolved ions of metallic elements from one electrical
state to another. This reduction releases energy, which the bacteria extract for their own
purposes. Unsurprisingly, such bacteria tend to prefer common metals such as iron and
manganese for lunch, though some species are able to subsist on such exotica as uranium.
Dr Lovley decided to put some of his bacteria into a solution of gold chloride. He was fully
prepared for nothing to happen, as gold compounds are generally toxic to bacteria. Instead,
the test tube containing the solution turned a beautiful shade of purple, the colour of
metallic gold when it is dispersed very finely in water.
Complete the summary below with words taken from the reading passage. Choose ONE
OR TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
CREATING GOLD
Even today, scientists are unable to work out how gold is made. Recently, however, they
have considered that the process may be (1) ____________. An experiment was carried out
using bacteria that create their own (2) ____________using metal. The types of metal these
organisms usually feed on are either (3) ____________. However, when the bacteria were
added to a test tube of (4) ____________solution, it changed (5) ____________, indicating
the presence of gold compounds.
Practice 7 Read the following text and answer the questions from 1 to 5
KEY CONSIDERATIONS
Research shows that, when choosing a home, most people are keen to find somewhere that
is in the right place: that is close to work or study or has easy access to public transport.
Property consultants agree that cost aside, aspects such as the number or size of the rooms,
or the furniture (if the property is furnished), play a secondary role. In the same way, the
medical care in hospitals and the hospital record on this are far more important to patients
than things like whether the latest drugs are being used or whether the number of nurses
and doctors is considered exemplary.
Read the passage. Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.
A way B features C contents D staffing
E movement F location G principle H prices I pieces

Studies indicate that people generally focus on the (1) ___________ of housing, rather than
on the physical (2) ___________ or the (3) ___________. This general (4)
___________also applies to medical treatment. Patients note quality of care, rather than
focusing on the level of (5) ___________at the hospital.
Practice 8
THE FALKIRK WHEEL
Boats needing to be lifted up enter the canal basin at the level of the Forth & Clyde Canal
and then enter the lower gondola of the Wheel. Two hydraulic steel gates are raised, so as
to seal the gondola off from the water in the canal basin. The water between the gates is
then pumped out. A hydraulic clamp, which prevents the arms of the Wheel moving while
the gondola is docked, is removed, allowing the Wheel to turn. In the central machine
room an array of ten hydraulic motors then begins to rotate the central axle. The axle
connects to the outer arms of the Wheel, which begin to rotate at a speed of 1/8 of a
revolution per minute. As the wheel rotates, the gondolas are kept in the upright position
by a simple gearing system. Two eightmetre-wide cogs orbit a fixed inner cog of the same
width, connected by two smaller cogs travelling in the opposite direction to the outer cogs -
so ensuring that the gondolas always remain level. When the gondola reaches the top, the
boat passes straight onto the aqueduct situated 24 metres above the canal basin. The
remaining 11 metres of lift needed to reach the Union Canal is achieved by means of a pair
of locks. The Wheel could not be constructed to elevate boats over the full 35-metre
difference between the two canals, owing to the presence of the historically important
Antonine Wall, which was built by the Romans in the second century AD. Boats travel
under this wall via a tunnel, then through the locks, and finally on to the Union Canal.
Label the diagram below.
Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.
1. ____________________
2. ____________________
3. ____________________
4. ____________________
5. ____________________
6. ____________________
7. ____________________