Idioms, phrasal verbs and cloze passages

Three verbal question types depend on knowing how English is used rather than how it is defined: idioms, phrasal verbs and cloze passages. You cannot memorise every idiom, but the sentence around it usually tells you the meaning, and the set used in tests repeats often. Cloze passages, where several blanks sit in one paragraph, reward reading the whole text before filling anything.

Idioms: use the sentence, then the list

"After the audit, the finance team had to go back to the drawing board." The sentence says the audit caused something, and "drawing board" suggests planning. Meaning: start again from the beginning. Options that fit a restart win.

A short set worth knowing because they recur: "call it a day" (stop working), "in the pipeline" (being planned), "on the same page" (in agreement), "cut corners" (do something badly to save effort), "a blessing in disguise" (a problem that turned out well), "once in a blue moon" (rarely), "hit the nail on the head" (be exactly right), "bite the bullet" (face something unpleasant).

Phrasal verbs: the particle changes the meaning

"Look" alone is simple. "Look into" means investigate, "look after" means care for, "look up" means search for, "look forward to" means anticipate with pleasure. Tests ask which particle completes the sentence.

Example: "The manager asked me to ___ the complaint before Friday." Options: look after, look into, look up, look over. The complaint needs investigation, so "look into".

Cloze passages: read everything, then fill in order of certainty

Read the full passage once with the blanks as gaps. You now know the topic, the tense and the tone. Fill the blanks you are sure of first, because each filled blank narrows the others.

Example: "The new system was installed last month. ___ (1), staff found it slow. The IT team ___ (2) two updates, and ___ (3) the end of the week most complaints had stopped."

Blank 1 contrasts the installation with a problem: "At first" or "However". Blank 2 is past, matching "was installed": "released" or "installed", not "release". Blank 3 needs a preposition of time with "end of the week": "by". Each choice uses a clue from elsewhere in the passage.

Common mistakes

• Taking an idiom literally and choosing the option about real drawing boards or real bullets.
• Choosing a phrasal verb because the first word fits and ignoring the particle.
• Filling cloze blanks one at a time from the top without reading to the end.

Practice habit: Keep a notebook with three columns: the idiom or phrasal verb, the sentence you met it in, and a sentence of your own. Add three entries a day. For cloze, take any paragraph, blank out every sixth word, leave it for a day, then fill it in.