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Use of English

Level C1

Part 2 - Open Cloze

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For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.

Critical Journalism

Critical journalism plays (0) AN essential role in democratic societies, not only by informing the public but also by holding powerful institutions to account. In an age (1) .......... information travels instantly and opinions spread even faster, the work of careful reporters has become more important than ever. A responsible journalist does more (2) .......... repeat official statements. They ask difficult questions, compare sources and examine whether claims are supported (3) .......... evidence. Without this process, citizens may base their views on rumours or half-truths, neither of (4) .......... contributes to healthy public debate. At its best, critical journalism acts (5) .......... a safeguard against abuse of power. It can reveal corruption, expose injustice and draw attention to problems that might otherwise remain hidden. This does not mean journalists should oppose authority in every case, but rather that they should remain independent and sceptical, even (6) .......... dealing with popular leaders or widely accepted ideas. Public trust, however, depends (7) .......... accuracy, fairness and transparency. If journalists fail in these areas, they risk weakening the very profession (8) .......... is meant to protect the public interest.

What to do

This part consists of a short text with a series of gaps. There are no words from which to choose the answers, candidates have to think of a word which fits the gap correctly.

Errors in punctuation are ignored, although spelling must be correct.

Contractions (e.g. don’t, we’ve, won’t) count as two words. However, can’t is a contraction of cannot, which is one word.

Sometimes, there is more than one correct answer. Cambridge will always account for this and all options will be accepted. However, you should not write more than one answer.

Don't spend time in a word you don't know. Wasting time on this activity might cost you points later in the exam because you won’t have enough time to do other tasks well.

Strategy

  1. Read the title and the whole text so that you understand what it is about.
  2. Read the whole sentence in which the gap occurs, to look for clues as to what kind of word you need.
  3. Check the words before and after each gap and look for grammatical collocations.
  4. Remember you must write only one word.
  5. You are never required to write a contraction. If you think the answer is a contraction, it must be wrong, so think again.
  6. Read the whole text through once you have completed it to make sure you have not missed any connectors, plurals or negatives.

Instructions

For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.

Exercise Details

Author

Bejenaru Alexandru

@bejenaru-alexandru

User Prompt

"Create an exercise about the role of critical journalism"

Tone: Standard
Level: C1

Created on:

May 12, 2026

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