Verbal Reasoning · Cloze Sentences
Mind the Gap
Choose the word that best completes this sentence. Keep it and reject the other cards.
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Why this works
Check grammar and meaning together. In this sentence, was so needs an adjective in its base form. Steeply is an adverb and steepness is a noun. Steeper is a comparative adjective; was so steeper does not fit this sentence. Steep and gentle both fit the grammar, but steep best explains why the climb required rests. A gentle slope does not supply that explanation. These clues make steep the best option. Read the completed sentence to check it makes sense.
Helping a child through Mind the Gap
Hints, least revealing first
- Read the whole sentence with each word in the gap. Check both the grammar and the meaning.
- In this sentence, the gap follows "was so". Look for an adjective in the right form to describe the path.
- Steep and gentle both fit the sentence’s grammar. Which one better explains needing to rest on the climb?
3 11+ skills this exercise practises
Each of these has its own page, with a worked example on it. 1 of the 3 names the mistake that skill attracts.
- Classify a word in contextIdentify the grammatical function of one highlighted word in its sentence.
- Interpret a word in contextInfer the meaning of one word from its sentence and passage context.
- Complete a verbal context gapChoose the word that best satisfies sentence meaning and logic.
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Which one next?
Twenty minutes of questions across all four subjects, and you will know which verbal reasoning skills to practise next and in what order. No sign-up, no score kept.