Directions:(1-5) For each of the blanks, select the word that fits best in the given context.

1.In Washington D.C., at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about forty-five minutes. During that time, over 1000 people went through the station, most on their way to work. After about three minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he ___(1)____ on to meet his schedule. After 4 minutes, the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 10 minutes, a 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother ___(2)____ him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without ____(3)____ – forced their children to move on quickly. For 45 minutes, the musician played continuously. Of 1097 people who walked by, only seven stopped and listened for a short while. Twenty more gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.17. He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one ____(4)____. There was no _____(5)_____ at all.

Ans: 4
The word in the first blank should convey the meaning that the person rushed to meet his schedule. The word ‘hurried’ is the most appropriate word in the context. Option D is the correct answer.

2.In Washington D.C., at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about forty-five minutes. During that time, over 1000 people went through the station, most on their way to work. After about three minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he ___(1)____ on to meet his schedule. After 4 minutes, the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 10 minutes, a 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother ___(2)____ him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without ____(3)____ – forced their children to move on quickly. For 45 minutes, the musician played continuously. Of 1097 people who walked by, only seven stopped and listened for a short while. Twenty more gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.17. He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one ____(4)____. There was no _____(5)_____ at all.

Ans: 2
The word in the blank should convey the meaning that the boy’s mother took him along with her hurriedly. The word that is most suitable in this context is ‘tugged’. Though the word ‘pulled’ can also be used, ‘tugged’ is better suited. Option B is the correct answer.

3.In Washington D.C., at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about forty-five minutes. During that time, over 1000 people went through the station, most on their way to work. After about three minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he ___(1)____ on to meet his schedule. After 4 minutes, the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 10 minutes, a 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother ___(2)____ him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without ____(3)____ – forced their children to move on quickly. For 45 minutes, the musician played continuously. Of 1097 people who walked by, only seven stopped and listened for a short while. Twenty more gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.17. He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one ____(4)____. There was no _____(5)_____ at all.

Ans: 5
The word used in this blank should mean ‘without exclusion’. The word ‘exception’ is the most suitable word in this context. Option E is the correct answer.

4.In Washington D.C., at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about forty-five minutes. During that time, over 1000 people went through the station, most on their way to work. After about three minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he ___(1)____ on to meet his schedule. After 4 minutes, the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 10 minutes, a 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother ___(2)____ him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without ____(3)____ – forced their children to move on quickly. For 45 minutes, the musician played continuously. Of 1097 people who walked by, only seven stopped and listened for a short while. Twenty more gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.17. He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one ____(4)____. There was no _____(5)_____ at all.

Ans: 2
The word in the blank should mean ‘cheered’. ‘Condemned’ and ‘talked’ are inappropriate. Options a) and d) can be eliminated. ‘Eulogized’ means ‘praise highly’. So, this word is also inappropriate in this context. Among the options, the word that is most suitable is ‘applauded’. Option B is the correct answer.

5.In Washington D.C., at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about forty-five minutes. During that time, over 1000 people went through the station, most on their way to work. After about three minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he ___(1)____ on to meet his schedule. After 4 minutes, the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 10 minutes, a 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother ___(2)____ him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without ____(3)____ – forced their children to move on quickly. For 45 minutes, the musician played continuously. Of 1097 people who walked by, only seven stopped and listened for a short while. Twenty more gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.17. He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one ____(4)____. There was no _____(5)_____ at all.

Ans: 3
The word used in this blank should convey the meaning that the musician did not get any acknowledgement or identification for his effort. The word that best captures the meaning is ‘recognition’. Option C is the correct answer.

Directions:(6-10) For each blank in the passage, select the word from the options that makes the most sense.

6.Your negotiation skills will need a little polishing. _____(6)______ negotiation skills is vital to doing business. No matter what you do, people buying from you will always attempt to get you to offer more for the same price, whether through additional products or services, or at the very least try to _____(7)______ you to lower your prices. There are some people who will not agree to be swayed from their position. We believe that you will be better armed by learning some negotiation skills, even if the latter is a valid position to take. If you _____(8)______ with your potential buyers, or even merely agree to do so, you will improve your credibility in their eyes and thus increase the chances of you actually selling them something. You may even be able to apply those bargaining skills to increasing the size of your sale! You should develop a website for your domain flipping business. This website can be used to present a little information on the domains you are selling. You also need to provide a little information about yourself as well as about your business and its policies. This way you can build a _____(9)______ reputation for your business. A website and a professional online presence will help improve the trust of buyers. Rarely are forum posts and e-mails enough to make a sale go through. Sometimes, additional effort is needed. Even more importantly, a website will enable you to market to a larger audience than if you were _____(10)______ to sell individual domains.

Ans: 2
The word ‘Negotiation skills’ is a noun. There is no verb in the sentence. So, we can conclude that the blank must contain a verb.
The verb must be in the Present-Continuous form according to the context.
So, we can eliminate ‘acquire’ and ‘build’.
From the first sentence, we know that the author is talking about improving your negotiation skills.
So, ‘studying’ or ‘teaching’ would be inappropriate in the context.
Hence, ‘learning’ is the correct word.

7.Your negotiation skills will need a little polishing. _____(6)______ negotiation skills is vital to doing business. No matter what you do, people buying from you will always attempt to get you to offer more for the same price, whether through additional products or services, or at the very least try to _____(7)______ you to lower your prices. There are some people who will not agree to be swayed from their position. We believe that you will be better armed by learning some negotiation skills, even if the latter is a valid position to take. If you _____(8)______ with your potential buyers, or even merely agree to do so, you will improve your credibility in their eyes and thus increase the chances of you actually selling them something. You may even be able to apply those bargaining skills to increasing the size of your sale! You should develop a website for your domain flipping business. This website can be used to present a little information on the domains you are selling. You also need to provide a little information about yourself as well as about your business and its policies. This way you can build a _____(9)______ reputation for your business. A website and a professional online presence will help improve the trust of buyers. Rarely are forum posts and e-mails enough to make a sale go through. Sometimes, additional effort is needed. Even more importantly, a website will enable you to market to a larger audience than if you were _____(10)______ to sell individual domains.

Ans: 4
The meaning of the sentence is that the buyers will try to make you reduce the prices.
From the sentence, we can see that the word in the blank must be a verb that is in simple present form.
Hence, ‘assuring’ and ‘persuading’ can be eliminated.
‘Preventing’ you from reducing the prices is contradictory to the meaning of the sentence.
The word ‘move’ is irrelevant in the context.
Hence, ‘convince’ is the most suitable word.

8.Your negotiation skills will need a little polishing. _____(6)______ negotiation skills is vital to doing business. No matter what you do, people buying from you will always attempt to get you to offer more for the same price, whether through additional products or services, or at the very least try to _____(7)______ you to lower your prices. There are some people who will not agree to be swayed from their position. We believe that you will be better armed by learning some negotiation skills, even if the latter is a valid position to take. If you _____(8)______ with your potential buyers, or even merely agree to do so, you will improve your credibility in their eyes and thus increase the chances of you actually selling them something. You may even be able to apply those bargaining skills to increasing the size of your sale! You should develop a website for your domain flipping business. This website can be used to present a little information on the domains you are selling. You also need to provide a little information about yourself as well as about your business and its policies. This way you can build a _____(9)______ reputation for your business. A website and a professional online presence will help improve the trust of buyers. Rarely are forum posts and e-mails enough to make a sale go through. Sometimes, additional effort is needed. Even more importantly, a website will enable you to market to a larger audience than if you were _____(10)______ to sell individual domains.

Ans: 1
The sentence has a positive connotation to it. Hence, the word in the blank must be consistent with the tone.
Therefore, quarrel, lose and disagree can be eliminated from the options.
“If you transaction with potential buyers” is incorrect usage.
=> Bargain is the correct word to be used.

9.Your negotiation skills will need a little polishing. _____(6)______ negotiation skills is vital to doing business. No matter what you do, people buying from you will always attempt to get you to offer more for the same price, whether through additional products or services, or at the very least try to _____(7)______ you to lower your prices. There are some people who will not agree to be swayed from their position. We believe that you will be better armed by learning some negotiation skills, even if the latter is a valid position to take. If you _____(8)______ with your potential buyers, or even merely agree to do so, you will improve your credibility in their eyes and thus increase the chances of you actually selling them something. You may even be able to apply those bargaining skills to increasing the size of your sale! You should develop a website for your domain flipping business. This website can be used to present a little information on the domains you are selling. You also need to provide a little information about yourself as well as about your business and its policies. This way you can build a _____(9)______ reputation for your business. A website and a professional online presence will help improve the trust of buyers. Rarely are forum posts and e-mails enough to make a sale go through. Sometimes, additional effort is needed. Even more importantly, a website will enable you to market to a larger audience than if you were _____(10)______ to sell individual domains.

Ans: 5
The word in the blank describes the word ‘reputation’, which is a noun. Hence, the word in the blank must be an adjective.
Therefore, credit can be eliminated from the options.
‘tolerable reputation’ is not the correct description of the author’s view. Hence, option A is wrong.
The article used before the blank is ‘a’.
Both ‘honorable’ and ‘appropriate’ require the article ‘an’ in front of them. Hence, they can be eliminated.
=> Respectable is the correct answer.

10.Your negotiation skills will need a little polishing. _____(6)______ negotiation skills is vital to doing business. No matter what you do, people buying from you will always attempt to get you to offer more for the same price, whether through additional products or services, or at the very least try to _____(7)______ you to lower your prices. There are some people who will not agree to be swayed from their position. We believe that you will be better armed by learning some negotiation skills, even if the latter is a valid position to take. If you _____(8)______ with your potential buyers, or even merely agree to do so, you will improve your credibility in their eyes and thus increase the chances of you actually selling them something. You may even be able to apply those bargaining skills to increasing the size of your sale! You should develop a website for your domain flipping business. This website can be used to present a little information on the domains you are selling. You also need to provide a little information about yourself as well as about your business and its policies. This way you can build a _____(9)______ reputation for your business. A website and a professional online presence will help improve the trust of buyers. Rarely are forum posts and e-mails enough to make a sale go through. Sometimes, additional effort is needed. Even more importantly, a website will enable you to market to a larger audience than if you were _____(10)______ to sell individual domains.

Ans: 3
The meaning of the sentence is that a website would give us a larger audience than if we were trying to sell individual domains.
So, the word used in the blank must be synonymous to trying.
The construction of the sentence is in such a way that the word in the blank must be in past continuous form.
Hence, we can eliminate ‘pursue’ and ‘push’ as they are not in continuous form.
Among the other options, only ‘attempting’ is synonymous to ‘trying’.
Hence, option C is the answer.

1 thought on “Cloze Test in English For Competitive Exams”

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