Cloze Test in English For Competitive Exams

Directions:(1-5) Instructions-In the given passage there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. Against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.

1. A Hare was very popular with the other beasts who all ___(1)___ to be her friends. But one day she heard the hounds approaching and hoped to escape them by the ___(2)___ of her many Friends. So, she went to the horse, and asked him to carry her away from the hounds on his back. But he declined, stating that he had important work to do for his master. “He felt sure,” he said, “that all her other friends would come to her assistance.” She then applied to the bull, and hoped that he would repel the hounds with his horns. The bull replied: “I am very sorry, but I have an appointment with a lady; but I feel sure that our friend the goat will do what you want.” The goat, however, feared that his back might do her ___(3)___ harm if he took her upon it. The ram, he felt sure, was the proper friend to apply to. So she went to the ram and told him the case. The ram replied: “Another time, my dear friend. I do not like to ___(4)___ on the present occasion, as hounds have been known to eat sheep as well as hares.” The Hare then applied, as a last hope, to the calf, who regretted that he was unable to help her, as he did not like to take the responsibility upon himself, as so many older persons than himself had declined the task. By this time the hounds were quite near, and the Hare ___(5)____ to her heels and luckily escaped.

illustrated
proscribed
mock
claimed
exclaimed

Ans:4
From the context we can see that the blank requires a word that means similar to “declared”. Only option D satisfies this and is thus, the right choice.

2. A Hare was very popular with the other beasts who all ___(1)___ to be her friends. But one day she heard the hounds approaching and hoped to escape them by the ___(2)___ of her many Friends. So, she went to the horse, and asked him to carry her away from the hounds on his back. But he declined, stating that he had important work to do for his master. “He felt sure,” he said, “that all her other friends would come to her assistance.” She then applied to the bull, and hoped that he would repel the hounds with his horns. The bull replied: “I am very sorry, but I have an appointment with a lady; but I feel sure that our friend the goat will do what you want.” The goat, however, feared that his back might do her ___(3)___ harm if he took her upon it. The ram, he felt sure, was the proper friend to apply to. So she went to the ram and told him the case. The ram replied: “Another time, my dear friend. I do not like to ___(4)___ on the present occasion, as hounds have been known to eat sheep as well as hares.” The Hare then applied, as a last hope, to the calf, who regretted that he was unable to help her, as he did not like to take the responsibility upon himself, as so many older persons than himself had declined the task. By this time the hounds were quite near, and the Hare ___(5)____ to her heels and luckily escaped.

aid
alms
active
promotion
encouragement

Ans:1
From the context we can see that the blank requires a word that means similar to “assistance”. Only option A satisfies this and thus option A is the right choice.

3. A Hare was very popular with the other beasts who all ___(1)___ to be her friends. But one day she heard the hounds approaching and hoped to escape them by the ___(2)___ of her many Friends. So, she went to the horse, and asked him to carry her away from the hounds on his back. But he declined, stating that he had important work to do for his master. “He felt sure,” he said, “that all her other friends would come to her assistance.” She then applied to the bull, and hoped that he would repel the hounds with his horns. The bull replied: “I am very sorry, but I have an appointment with a lady; but I feel sure that our friend the goat will do what you want.” The goat, however, feared that his back might do her ___(3)___ harm if he took her upon it. The ram, he felt sure, was the proper friend to apply to. So she went to the ram and told him the case. The ram replied: “Another time, my dear friend. I do not like to ___(4)___ on the present occasion, as hounds have been known to eat sheep as well as hares.” The Hare then applied, as a last hope, to the calf, who regretted that he was unable to help her, as he did not like to take the responsibility upon himself, as so many older persons than himself had declined the task. By this time the hounds were quite near, and the Hare ___(5)____ to her heels and luckily escaped.

upon
few
some
between
many

Ans:3
From the context we can see that the blank requires a word that means similar to “a little”. Only option C satisfies this and thus option C is the right choice.

4. A Hare was very popular with the other beasts who all ___(1)___ to be her friends. But one day she heard the hounds approaching and hoped to escape them by the ___(2)___ of her many Friends. So, she went to the horse, and asked him to carry her away from the hounds on his back. But he declined, stating that he had important work to do for his master. “He felt sure,” he said, “that all her other friends would come to her assistance.” She then applied to the bull, and hoped that he would repel the hounds with his horns. The bull replied: “I am very sorry, but I have an appointment with a lady; but I feel sure that our friend the goat will do what you want.” The goat, however, feared that his back might do her ___(3)___ harm if he took her upon it. The ram, he felt sure, was the proper friend to apply to. So she went to the ram and told him the case. The ram replied: “Another time, my dear friend. I do not like to ___(4)___ on the present occasion, as hounds have been known to eat sheep as well as hares.” The Hare then applied, as a last hope, to the calf, who regretted that he was unable to help her, as he did not like to take the responsibility upon himself, as so many older persons than himself had declined the task. By this time the hounds were quite near, and the Hare ___(5)____ to her heels and luckily escaped.

permit
advance
prevent
interfere
confict

Ans:4
From the context we can see that the blank requires a word that means similar to “ intrude”. Only option D satisfies this and thus option D is the right choice.

5. A Hare was very popular with the other beasts who all ___(1)___ to be her friends. But one day she heard the hounds approaching and hoped to escape them by the ___(2)___ of her many Friends. So, she went to the horse, and asked him to carry her away from the hounds on his back. But he declined, stating that he had important work to do for his master. “He felt sure,” he said, “that all her other friends would come to her assistance.” She then applied to the bull, and hoped that he would repel the hounds with his horns. The bull replied: “I am very sorry, but I have an appointment with a lady; but I feel sure that our friend the goat will do what you want.” The goat, however, feared that his back might do her ___(3)___ harm if he took her upon it. The ram, he felt sure, was the proper friend to apply to. So she went to the ram and told him the case. The ram replied: “Another time, my dear friend. I do not like to ___(4)___ on the present occasion, as hounds have been known to eat sheep as well as hares.” The Hare then applied, as a last hope, to the calf, who regretted that he was unable to help her, as he did not like to take the responsibility upon himself, as so many older persons than himself had declined the task. By this time the hounds were quite near, and the Hare ___(5)____ to her heels and luckily escaped.

run
grabbed
took
held
freed

Ans:3
The blank is part of an idiom “took to their heels” which means to begin to run away. Thus, option C is the right choice.

Directions:(6-10) In the following questions, choose the word that fills the blank in the most appropriate way.

6. The story of a town must differ from the history of a nation in that it is concerned not with large issues but with familiar and __[6]__ details. A nation has no individuality. No single phrase can __[7]__ sum up the characteristics of people. But a town is like one face __[8]__ out of a crowd, a face that shows not merely the experience of our human span, but the traces of centuries that go __[9]__ into unrecorded time. In all this slow development a character that is individual and __[10]__ is gradually formed.

grandiose
colossal
neatly
unusually
domestic

Ans:5
We can notice that the blank needs a noun. In the sentence, the author says that ‘is concerned not with large issues but with familiar’. Thus, [1] should not be a synonym of large. Both grandiose and colossal express the same meaning. Thus, domestic should be the correct answer.

7. The story of a town must differ from the history of a nation in that it is concerned not with large issues but with familiar and __[6]__ details. A nation has no individuality. No single phrase can __[7]__ sum up the characteristics of people. But a town is like one face __[8]__ out of a crowd, a face that shows not merely the experience of our human span, but the traces of centuries that go __[9]__ into unrecorded time. In all this slow development a character that is individual and __[10]__ is gradually formed.

receptively
surreptitiously
fairly
increasingly
moderate

Ans:3
It can be understood that the blank needs an adverb that modifies the verb sum up. Thus, E can be eliminated. The author tries to convey that no phrase can sum up the characteristics of people adequately. This meaning can only be expressed by ‘fairly’.

8. The story of a town must differ from the history of a nation in that it is concerned not with large issues but with familiar and __[6]__ details. A nation has no individuality. No single phrase can __[7]__ sum up the characteristics of people. But a town is like one face __[8]__ out of a crowd, a face that shows not merely the experience of our human span, but the traces of centuries that go __[9]__ into unrecorded time. In all this slow development a character that is individual and __[10]__ is gradually formed.

picked
lost
choosen
representative
shattered

Ans:1
From the context, we can understand that the author means that the town has a single face or similar character. The only word that fits in this context is ‘picked’.

9. The story of a town must differ from the history of a nation in that it is concerned not with large issues but with familiar and __[6]__ details. A nation has no individuality. No single phrase can __[7]__ sum up the characteristics of people. But a town is like one face __[8]__ out of a crowd, a face that shows not merely the experience of our human span, but the traces of centuries that go __[9]__ into unrecorded time. In all this slow development a character that is individual and __[10]__ is gradually formed.

motionless
backward
ahead
precariously
None of these

Ans:2
From the context, we can understand that the author tries to say that the face of town shows experience of time that is not even recorded. The only word that fits into this context is ‘backward’

10. The story of a town must differ from the history of a nation in that it is concerned not with large issues but with familiar and __[6]__ details. A nation has no individuality. No single phrase can __[7]__ sum up the characteristics of people. But a town is like one face __[8]__ out of a crowd, a face that shows not merely the experience of our human span, but the traces of centuries that go __[9]__ into unrecorded time. In all this slow development a character that is individual and __[10]__ is gradually formed.

inseparable
malicious
shattered
bounded
regressive

Ans:1
In the para, the author says that the characters of people in town is like picking a face from the crowd. It is integrated into one entity. We have to choose a word that complements this line of reasoning. The only word that does so is ‘inseparable’.