Fill in the Blanks Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The right pair is 'weaknesses' and 'likely'. 'Strengths and weaknesses' is the natural pair of opposites in the first blank. The second blank forms the phrase 'more than likely not going to go away', which is a set expression meaning very probably. 'Difficulties', 'challenges' and 'struggles' are not the usual opposites of strengths, and 'possibly', 'probably' and 'expectedly' do not fit after 'more than'.

Answer: D

The right pair is 'learn' and 'much'. 'Boys and girls did not learn to read' fits the idea that books were scarce and only a few men could read. The phrase 'cost as much as a good house' is the usual comparison. 'Remember to read', 'want to read' and 'need to read' do not carry the same sense of acquiring the skill, and 'as more as', 'as most as' and 'as high as' are not correct in the second blank.

Answer: A

The right set is 'arose', 'from' and 'combining'. A genre of sculpture 'arose and developed' over the period named. The body of sculptural art 'from this period' is unique, and the last clause 'combining stylistic influences of the Hellenistic, Persian and Kushan cultures' gives the reason for its syncretic character. 'Ensued' and 'appeared' do not pair as well with 'and developed', and 'since', 'of' and 'at' do not fit before 'this period', and 'cooperating' and 'fusing' do not suit the influences as 'combining' does.

Answer: C

The right set is 'unveiled', 'reception', 'honour' and 'couple'. A memorial sculpture is unveiled in a city on a given day. Reception is the way a public receives something, so 'the reception for the statue has been mixed' fits the praise and jeers. The monument is meant to honour the relationship between the Kings, and it was inspired by a photograph of the couple hugging. 'Exposed', 'revealed' and 'installed' are less natural for a statue, and 'duo' and 'twins' do not suit the Kings as a married couple.

Answer: A

The right pair is 'would have forgotten; hadn't reminded'. The sentence is a third conditional about the past: 'I would have forgotten if you hadn't reminded me'. The result clause takes 'would have' + past participle and the condition takes 'if' + past perfect. Option B mixes present forms, option C uses 'were to forget' with a simple past, and option D puts the past perfect in both places, which leaves the main clause without 'would'.

Answer: A

The right pair is 'had made; arrived'. The coffee-making happened first and the arrival later, so the earlier action takes the past perfect 'had made' and the later action takes the simple past 'arrived': 'I had made the coffee before he arrived'. Using 'have made' brings in the present perfect, and 'had arrived' with 'before' reverses the order of the actions, so options B, C and D are wrong.

Answer: A

The word 'will study' should be replaced by 'studied'. The sentence says 'in 2020' and 'finished my engineering degree a year later', which are in the past, and the two verbs must agree in tense: 'I studied microbiology in 2020 and finished my engineering degree a year later'. The other options, have studied, will have studied and will be studying, are not past forms joined to 'finished'.

Answer: A

The key is 'Will'. 'Will you have coffee?' is an invitation, and offers and requests with 'will you' are accepted. 'Shall you', 'Can you' and 'May you' do not make a natural offer: 'May you have coffee' would be a wish, and 'Can you have coffee' asks about ability or permission. The answer follows the key and ordinary usage. 'Will you have coffee?' is a polite offer, in the same way as 'Will you have some tea?', and it is the usual idiom. 'May you have coffee' would be a blessing, 'Shall you' is stilted, and 'Can you have coffee' is a question about ability.

Answer: C

The right form is 'saw'. The adverb 'yesterday' marks a finished time in the past, so the simple past is used: 'I saw him yesterday after a long time'. The present perfect 'have seen' cannot be used with 'yesterday', the past perfect 'had seen' needs another past event, and 'would see' is a conditional. The speaker uses 'yesterday' and 'after a long time', which fix the event at a finished point in the past, so the simple past 'saw' is correct. The present perfect cannot take a past time word, and the past perfect needs a second, later event in the past.

Answer: A

The pair is roughly, most. The sentence says that tropical diseases occur in a zone stretching roughly from 1,000 miles north to 1,000 miles south of the equator, where roughly means approximately, and that most of their damage is done in poor countries.

Right from, just from and around from do not fit with stretching in that way, and loads and major do not combine well with of their damage, since loads of needs a plural noun. The first pair is therefore the one that is both natural and exact.