Cloze Test
🔒 Log in to trackOne short passage with five numbered blanks, attempted as a single set — 5 marks that reward method over memory. Most blanks are decided by the passage's tense anchor, clause logic or a fixed collocation, so a trained routine converts cloze into the most reliable scoring block in the English section.
One page per subtopic: detailed notes, every question type, formulas, tricks and practice sets.
Every formula on one printable page, grouped by subtopic.
3 exam-level questions worked step by step.
66 questions — untimed practice or a timed test with analysis.
Track record in the exam
Questions per shift in recent SSC CGL papers.
Test difficulty mix (66 questions)
Question patterns exams keep repeating
Taken from previous-year papers. If a pattern is marked "very common", expect to see it in your exam.
Verb form / tense blank
very commonThe options are the same verb in different shapes (made/make/making) or tenses. Usually two or three of the five blanks in a passage are of this kind.
How to solve: Find the time anchor of the passage ('Last January', 'every morning', 'now') and keep only forms that stay inside that frame. Then check the subject: a singular subject needs the -s form in the present. A bare -ing form can never be the finite verb of a sentence.
Example: 'Last January the terrace became a workshop. Every evening he and his son (1) ______ new kites.' Options: made/make/making/maker.
Past anchor 'Last January' + habitual 'every evening' → simple past: made. 'Make' breaks the frame; 'making' is not finite.
Connector blank (contrast / reason / addition / time)
very commonThe blank sits between two clauses, or at the start of a second sentence that comments on the first. Options are words like but, because, moreover, until.
How to solve: Compress each side of the blank into + or − (or cause/effect). Opposite directions → but/yet/although; a clause answering 'why' → because/since; a second supporting point after a semicolon → moreover; events on a clock → while/until/before. Then read the joined sentence aloud to confirm.
Example: 'Business has not suffered at all; (1) ______, some customers now order a second cup.' Options: however/therefore/moreover/otherwise.
Both clauses push the same way and the punctuation asks for a linking adverb → moreover.
Preposition / phrasal verb blank
very commonThe options are single prepositions (to/for/on) or particles (off/up/out) after a verb, adjective or fixed phrase.
How to solve: Most of these blanks are fixed pairs: ashamed of, respond to, depend on, apply to (organisation) / for (post), in spite of, according to. For phrasal verbs, say the needed meaning in plain words first ('postpone' → put off), then match the particle.
Example: 'He is not ashamed (1) ______ his timetable.' Options: of/for/with/from.
Fixed pair ashamed of → of. The other three do not exist with ashamed.
Noun / word choice by meaning
very commonAll four options are grammatical in the blank; the sentence's meaning and the clue in a neighbouring clause must decide.
How to solve: Say the sentence's message in your own words, then keep the option that names exactly that idea. The clue is usually in the same sentence (often after a colon or semicolon); sometimes the next sentence confirms it. Cut options from the same broad field that do not match the precise idea.
Example: 'The quiet here has a different (1) ______ from the quiet of their homes, where the television mutters.' Options: price/quality/length/colour.
The next clause describes the character of the quiet → quality.
Collocation blank (verb + fixed noun)
commonThe blank completes a set phrase such as take advantage, make room, pay attention, keep a promise.
How to solve: Read the noun after the blank and recall its fixed partner verb. Do not translate from your mother tongue — the make/do/take swap is the classic trap. If two options seem possible, only the conventional partner is accepted in the exam.
Example: 'The students (1) ______ full advantage of the extended hours.' Options: make/do/take/give.
take (full) advantage of — 'do advantage' and 'make advantage' are not English.
Subject-verb agreement blank
commonThe options differ only in number or person (is/are, gives/give), and the sentence has a long phrase between the subject and the verb, or an each/every/one-of structure.
How to solve: Cross out the words between the true subject and the verb, find the subject's number, then match the verb and the passage's time frame. 'The soil in his yard ___ too rocky' → soil is singular → is.
Example: 'A group of volunteers ___ its own discipline.' Options: develop/develops/developing/had developed.
True subject 'a group' is singular and the passage is in general present → develops.
Article / determiner blank
commonThe options are a, an, the (or their capital forms) before a noun.
How to solve: First mention or one of many → a/an (an before a vowel sound). Already known, already specified by a phrase, or one of a kind → the. General plural or uncountable idea often needs no article, so reject both when the noun is generic.
Example: 'On festival day (1) ______ sky above the lane was full of kites.' Options: A/An/The/Some.
'The sky above the lane' is one specific sky → The.
Word whose answer needs the whole passage (theme / local-fit traps)
commonThe options all fit the grammar and most fit the general topic; the correct one continues the passage's controlling idea, or the tempting one clashes with a line elsewhere.
How to solve: Read the full passage before answering and name its theme. Keep the option that stays inside the story's world and metaphor. Before finalising, re-read the passage with your answers — a locally fitting option that contradicts another line must go.
Example: 'The market sells food, but what it really (1) ______ is company.' Options: paints/sells/measures/imports.
The passage's metaphor is selling → sells. The other verbs break the metaphor that runs through the whole passage.