In this post I will discuss how you can successfully complete a missing letters exercise in the Duolingo English Test.
Here are a few tips to understand the paragraph and fill out the missing words.
- Read the paragraph once before filling out the blanks.
- Notice the words before and after a blank. For example, if the first blank in the paragraph is ” seas or oce—” , It has to be a noun like the word seas. The next blank coas— has a noun after (estuaries), so the word “coast-l” should be an adjective.
- Look for the keywords related to the theme of the paragraph.For example, Look at this paragraph:
“Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or oce—-, or the brackish water of coas–l estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet.
Marine organi— mostly mic–organisms, produce oxygen and sequester carbon. Marine life in part shape and protect shorelines, and some marine organisms even help create new land (e.g. coral building reefs).).”(wikipedia)
What do you notice in the first reading of the paragraph?
- This paragraph is about marine life. That is why the missing words are most likely related to the topic of marine life. The related words can be sea, ocean, organism, fish, coast, reefs etc. Here is the complete answer:
“Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or ocean, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. Marine organisms mostly microorganisms, produce oxygen and sequester carbon. Marine life in part shape and protect shorelines, and some marine organisms even help create new land (e.g. coral building reefs).”(wikipedia)
Let’s take a look at another example:
” Inflation has taken its root all around the world. Not just the poor countries but the richest countries are also stric— by inflation. The topic of Inflation is in the news and on everybody’s tongue.
The effects of inflation have deteri—— the quality of services, raised the rates of mortg—- and prices of houses, and at the same time skyrocketed the prices of essential goods and pro—–. The worst victims of inflation are not just the low in—- groups but also the middle class in each country.”
What did you notice in your first reading of the paragraph?
▶︎The paragraph is about inflation. Since inflation or price hike is the theme of this paragraph, we can expect words like prices, products, deterioration, increase, decrease, rents, mortgages etc.The vocabulary can be around the problems associated with inflation.
▶︎Also notice the use of words and phrases before and after a blank. For example, the first blank is,..” …countries are also stric—- by inflation.”. There is the use of passive voice, so we are expected to use the third form of verb here starting with stric—,(stricken).
▶︎Before and after the next blank, we can see” The effects of inflation have deteri—— the quality of services”. The blank in the sentence is in place of a verb, an after have we always use the third form of the verb. so the answer would be “deteriorated.”
▶︎Read the next blank:the rates of mort—–, and the prices of houses.” The blank needs a noun and a noun here can be mortgages, since we are also talking about the prices of houses at the same time.
▶︎”the prices of essential goods and pro—–“. Here the blank needs a noun that makes sense according to the topic of the paragraph as well as the words before and after it. The word that suits with goods is “product.”
▶︎Lastly, as we speak about the effects of inflation, we come across; “low in—- groups but also the middle class in each country.” It is evident that the paragraph is talking about different classes of society. So we can fill in ” low income groups.”
Let’s look at the complete answer for the reading comprehension exercise here:
” Inflation has taken its root all around the world. Not just the poor countries but the richest countries are stricken by inflation. The topic of Inflation is in the news and on everybody’s tongue. The effects of inflation have deteriorated the quality of services, raised the rates of mortgages and prices of houses, and at the same time skyrocketed the prices of essential goods and products. The worst victims of inflation are not just the low income groups but also the middle class in each country.”