FCE - Use of English (Part 2)

Part 2 is Open Cloze - a gap filling exercise. The missing word is usually a grammatical one, so they are all simple words. However, many students find this a tricky exercise (and if I'm honest, I am puzzled occasionally too).

Among the twelve possible points, there could be examples of:

Linkers: as well as, unless, even though, in spite of...

Prepositions: afraid of flying, for ten years, arrive at the station...

Articles: he's a teacher, I loved the film...

Quantifiers: much, no, some, few...

Personal Pronouns: it, you, them, us...

Indefinite Pronouns: anyone, everywhere, whatever...

Relative Pronouns / Question Words: who, why, which, where...

Auxiliary Verbs: is, were, have, has, being, having...

Comparatives / Superlatives: as, less, than, most...

Multi-Word / Phrasal Verbs: take part in, give up smoking...

Other determiners: one, both, either, this, these...


The problem is that there are many possibilities but if you do lots of practice, you will see that words are often repeated.

First you should try to identify what kind of word you need. If you are unsure, continue to the next one. Maybe when you have completed some of the other answers, it'll be clearer.

Look for clues:

It was ______ a lovely day that we went to the countryside. (such...that)

That was ______ best film I've seen in ages. (the + superlative)

Try the following exercise:

1. ______ than meet his ex girlfriend, he telephoned to say that he couldn't go.
2. You can borrow my car as ______ as you drive carefully.
3. Apart ______ French, what other languages do you speak?
4. I had never really thought about it much _____ you mentioned it.
5. I never have ______ time to do all the things I need to do.
6. If you experience symptoms _______ as fever or abdominal pain, you should stop taking the tablets.
7. I think it'll be warm like yesterday _______ you shouldn't need a jacket.
8. Smoking ______ banned a few years ago now.
9. This is the cathedral in ______ so many Kings and Queens have got married over the centuries.
10. I haven't got ______ clue what you are talking about.
11. He was standing by _______ at the bus stop.
12. The council is made up of at ______ one representative from each member state.

Of course, in the exam Part 2 is a text. You can find plenty of practice tests by putting " FCE Use of English Part 2" into your search bar.

You should take a note of sentences and highlight why it is the correct answer.