RW.4-5 · Key cloze: vocabulary and grammar in context

Parts 4 and 5 are the cloze 完形填空 parts: a short text with gaps. Part 4 gives three word choices per gap (vocabulary); Part 5 gives no choices at all (grammar). Together they are the "vocabulary and grammar in context" engine of A2 Key.

• Part 4: six gaps, three options each. It tests word choice: collocation 搭配, meaning, phrasal verbs 短语动词.
• Part 5: six gaps in a short email — sometimes an email and its reply. No options; you write one word per gap: an article, a preposition, a pronoun, a modal — the small grammar words.
• Memory hook: Part 4 is a shop — choose from the shelf. Part 5 is a kitchen — cook the word yourself from whatever the sentence gives you.

Three options; usually all three are "possible English", but only one fits this sentence.

• Collocation is king. We ___ a great time. A) made B) had C) took → had (have a great time is the fixed pair). The other two are fine words at the wrong party.
• Read the whole sentence, not just the gap. The answer often hides three words later: She is very fond ___ cats. → of. (fond of — the shelf only sells the pair.)
• ⚠ If two options feel right, one of them is collocating with a neighbour word you're ignoring. Re-read the gap's neighbours on both sides.

No options. One word per gap, and the menu is predictable:

• The grammar you learned in A1 and A2 is the answer key: articles (A2 topic 7), prepositions of time and place, there is, question words, modals.
• Example: I have lived here ___ 2019. → since. ___ you like tea? → Do. The A2 review pays its rent here.
• ⚠ Spelling counts. A right word spelled wrong is a wrong word. whent gets no mark and no sympathy.

1. Read the whole text first without writing anything. Know the story.
2. Then fill the gaps one by one, reading the full sentence each time.
3. Re-read the finished text. If a sentence sounds wrong in your head, it is wrong.

• Memory hook: the first read is the map; the gaps are the roads; the re-read is the drive.

• ⚠ The article gaps are yours to lose. Chinese has no articles, so a/the gaps feel invisible. They are not invisible; they are free marks wearing camouflage 伪装.
• ⚠ One word only. Part 5 takes exactly one word. "in the" in one gap is two words and zero marks.
• ⚠ Don't invent rare words. The answer is always a small common word. If your answer is serendipity, the gap wanted so.
• ⚠ Check the capital letter. A gap at the start of a sentence needs a capital. There not there.

Last summer, I went to the beach ___ my family. We stayed ___ a small hotel near the sea. The weather ___ perfect, so we swam every day. I have never had ___ a good holiday. I will never forget it.

Answers: with · in/at · was · such. (such a good holiday — the collocation shelf again. so would need so good a holiday, and nobody has time for that.)

Answer first, then read the explanation.

1. We ___ a great time. — had. The collocation decides.
2. I have lived here ___ 2019. — since. A start line, from A2.
3. Part 5, no options — one small grammar word: article, preposition, pronoun, modal, linker.
4. A right word spelled wrong — no marks. Spelling counts.
5. "in the" in one gap — illegal. One word per gap.