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Part 2ListeningSection 7 of 8

2.7Question type 5: sentence completion and short answer

You complete a sentence or answer a question in a few words. The grammar of the sentence around the gap is your best clue and most students ignore it.

The method

  1. Read the whole sentence, including the part after the gap.
  2. Decide the grammar of the missing word: is it a noun, a verb, an adjective, a plural?
  3. If the word before the gap is a or an, the answer is a singular noun. If it is are or were, the answer is plural.
  4. Listen for the meaning of the whole sentence, not for the individual words printed on your paper.
  5. Read your completed sentence back. If it is not grammatical English, your answer is wrong even if the word was in the recording.

Grammar as a checking tool

If the sentence reads: The centre was built to provide ................ for local families, then the gap needs a noun, and most likely an uncountable or plural noun because there is no article in front of it. You have narrowed the answer down before you have heard a single word.