Cloze Test
🔒 Log in to trackGrammar inside the passage: tense, agreement, articles
🔒 Log in to trackMost cloze blanks are won by grammar before vocabulary. Three systems matter.
Tense. The passage's opening fixes its time frame. A habitual opening ('Every morning...') demands simple present for habitual verbs; a past narrative ('When Arun was small...') demands past forms for events inside the story; 'still ___' with a present meaning demands present perfect or simple present, never past. Watch result words like by evening / by the time, which often need perfect forms — but only when the sentence truly looks back from a later point, not in simple narrative sequence.
Subject–verb agreement. SSC hides the subject between the blank and its neighbours: 'a group that walks together ___ its own discipline' — the subject is a group (singular), not walks or discipline. Strip the phrase to 'a group ___' and choose. Plurals to watch: each, every, either, neither, everyone → singular; a number of → plural, the number of → singular.
Articles and determiners. A/an is decided by sound, not spelling: a university, an hour, a European, an MLA. The appears when the noun is already known, unique, or specified by the phrase after it.
Two-step verification for verb blanks: (1) Does the tense match the passage anchor? (2) Does the form match the subject? An option passing only one test is a designed distractor.
Grammar blanks: what is really tested
In most cloze passages, three or four of the five blanks are decided by a grammar rule, not by word power. The passage fixes a setting — time, subject, structure — and the blank must obey it. Learn the six checks below and most grammar blanks answer themselves.
1. Subject-verb agreement
Find the true subject — the noun the verb belongs to — and ignore the words packed between it and the verb.
- Correct: The quality of the mangoes is poor. Incorrect: The quality of the mangoes are poor. (subject = quality)
- Correct: Every one of the players was tired. Incorrect: Every one of the players were tired. (each, every, either, neither, one of + plural noun take a singular verb)
- Correct: The list of items is on the table. Incorrect: The list of items are on the table.
2. The time frame (tense)
The first sentence usually sets the tense for the whole passage, and every verb must stay inside that frame.
- "When Arun was small…" → past narrative → Correct: he drafted a reply. Incorrect: he drafts a reply.
- Habits and general truths → simple present: Correct: The shop opens at nine. Incorrect: The shop opened at nine (in a habitual passage).
- Signal words: yesterday, last year, ago → past; now, still, these days, every morning → present; since, for, already, yet → perfect forms.
- But a habit inside a past story can stay past: "Every evening he made new kites" (past habit of that story).
3. Verb forms: finite, gerund, infinitive
Only a finite verb can act as the main verb. After certain words, a non-finite form is compulsory:
- enjoy, avoid, mind, finish, suggest, keep + -ing: Correct: He enjoys showing old kites. Incorrect: He enjoys to show old kites.
- decide, plan, hope, refuse, manage, teach someone + to + base form: Correct: Gardening has taught him to be patient. Incorrect: Gardening has taught him being patient.
- preposition + -ing: Correct: She is good at solving puzzles. Incorrect: She is good at to solve puzzles.
- A bare -ing form cannot serve as the finite verb: Incorrect: A group developing its own discipline. Correct: A group develops its own discipline.
4. Articles: a, an, the
- a/an = first mention or one of many: He gave him a bucket the very next day.
- the = already known, or one of a kind: The sky above the lane was full of kites.
- No article for most plural or general nouns: Correct: Trees give shade. Incorrect: The trees give shade (when trees in general are meant).
- a + consonant sound, an + vowel sound: a university (yoo-sound), an hour (silent h).
5. Adjective or adverb?
After a linking verb (be, look, seem, feel, taste, smell, sound) use an adjective:
- Correct: The tree looks attractive. Incorrect: The tree looks attractively.
- After an action verb use an adverb: Correct: She sings beautifully.
6. Pronouns
A pronoun must match its noun in number and gender, and its case must fit the job — subject (I, he, they), object (me, him, them), possessive (my, his, their).
- Correct: The committee published its report. Incorrect: The committee published their's report.
- Correct: Between you and me, the plan is weak. Incorrect: Between you and I, the plan is weak.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Subject-verb agreement blank
The options are forms of the same verb (give/gives/gave) and the sentence has a long subject phrase or an each/every/one-of structure.
Cross out the phrase between the subject and the verb.
Ask: is the true subject singular or plural?
Match the verb, then check the passage's time frame (present or past).
Why it works: the setter hides the subject behind a prepositional phrase so that the nearest noun misleads you.
"The soil in his yard (1) ______ too rocky for beds." (a) is (b) are (c) were (d) be
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True subject = soil (singular), passage is in present → is. Are is pulled by the nearby plural feel; were breaks the present frame.
Tense / time-frame blank
The options are the same verb in different tenses and the passage has a clear anchor: 'Last January', 'now', 'every morning'.
Find the time anchor of the sentence or passage.
Past anchor → simple past; habit in the story → past habitual; present anchor (now, still) → simple present.
Never let one verb drift out of the passage's frame.
Why it works: narratives hold one tense; a wrong-tense option sounds fine alone but breaks the story.
"Last January the terrace became a workshop. Every evening he and his son (1) ______ new kites." (a) made (b) make (c) making (d) maker
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Anchor 'Last January' → past narrative, habitual 'every evening' → simple past: made. Make breaks the frame; making is not finite.
Verb form: gerund or infinitive after another word
The blank follows a verb like enjoy/avoid or decide/teach, or follows a preposition.
Identify the word before the blank.
enjoy, avoid, mind, finish, suggest → -ing form.
decide, hope, refuse, manage, teach someone → to + base form.
After a preposition → -ing form.
Why it works: these verbs and prepositions fix the form of the next verb; no meaning decision is needed.
"He enjoys (1) ______ old kites to the children of the lane." (a) showing (b) show (c) to show (d) showed
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Enjoy takes the -ing form: showing. 'Enjoys to show' is wrong in English.
Article / determiner blank
The options are a, an, the (or their capital forms) before a noun.
Ask if the noun is already known or one of a kind → the.
First mention, one of many → a/an (an before a vowel SOUND).
General plural or uncountable idea → no article, so pick the option that works as a zero article if offered.
Why it works: article choice follows three simple conditions; the sentence usually makes one condition obvious.
"On festival day (1) ______ sky above the lane was so full of kites that the birds kept their distance." (a) A (b) An (c) The (d) Some
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There is one sky above the lane and the phrase adds 'above the lane' (already specific): The. 'A sky' would mean one of several skies.
Shortcuts that save time
Delete every phrase between the subject and the verb blank, then apply agreement to the bare skeleton.
'A group that walks together ___ its own quiet discipline.' Options: develop / develops / developing / developed(no context).
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Skeleton: 'a group ___ discipline' → singular + habitual present → develops.
When a narrative blank offers just one past-tense option among present/gerund forms, the anchor already decided it — mark it and move on without re-reading the paragraph.
For a/an blanks, pronounce the next word's first sound: 'an hour' but 'a university'. Silent letters and 'yu' sounds decide it, not the first letter.
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Agreeing the verb with the nearest noun instead of the true subject.
Using a perfect tense ('had joined') where plain narrative past is required, because 'by evening' looks like a perfect anchor.
Choosing the base verb form after a singular subject ('the city awaken').
Picking 'an' before words beginning with a vowel letter that is pronounced as a consonant ('a one-rupee coin').
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
Find the true subject first; ignore the words between it and the verb.
Fix the passage's time frame, then keep every verb inside it.
enjoy/avoid + -ing; decide/refuse/teach + to; preposition + -ing.
a/an = first mention; the = known or one-of-a-kind.
Linking verb + adjective; action verb + adverb.
Pronoun = same number and gender as its noun, right case for the job.
Practice: 16 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 10 questions
Suggested time 6 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.