In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option, in the questions that follow, to fill in each blank. Listening starts with hearing but goes (1)___________. Hearing, in other words, is necessary, but is not a sufficient (2)___________ for listening. Listening involves hearing with attention. Listening is a process that (3)___________ concentration. While listening, one should also be observant. In other words, listening has to do with the ears, (4)____________ with the eyes and the mind. Listening is to be understood as the total process that involves hearing with attention, being observant and making interpretations. Good communication is essentially a/an (5)___________ process.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 1.
- (a)towards
- (b)across
- (c)beyond
- (d)throughout
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The sentence is Listening starts with hearing but goes (1)___________.
Nothing follows the blank, so the word in it has to stand without an object. Towards is a preposition and needs one — you go towards something — so it cannot close the clause.
But is the signpost. It contrasts the modest "starts with hearing" against something larger, and the sense required is "further than that point" - which is exactly what goes beyond carries.
The next sentence confirms it: hearing is necessary but not sufficient. Option (c).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)towards — Towards is a preposition and needs an object - you go towards something. At the end of the clause it has nothing to govern, and it names a direction rather than the idea of exceeding.
- (b)across — Across can be adverbial, but it means from one side to the other. The passage never sets up anything to cross; its contrast is going further than hearing, not passing over it.
- (d)throughout — Throughout can stand alone as an adverb, so grammar does not remove it. It measures duration or full extent, and the sentence is about listening exceeding hearing, not about how long anything lasts.
Concept
A cloze blank is answered in two passes.
First, grammar: what part of speech can sit here? This blank follows the intransitive verb goes and closes the clause, so only a word that can stand as an adverb will fit.
Second, sense: which of the survivors does the passage's logic want? The contrast marker but demands something larger than hearing, and go beyond is the ordinary English phrase for exceeding a starting point.
Doing grammar first is what saves time - here it removes the one option that cannot end a clause at all, before meaning has to decide anything.
Nothing is wrong with "goes across" as a string of words; the fault is that the passage supplies nothing to cross. In this paragraph the sentence after the blank does the deciding, since it restates hearing as necessary but not sufficient, which is the same idea as going beyond it.
Key facts
- Go beyond means to exceed or extend past a limit, and beyond can stand alone as an adverb.
- Towards is a preposition and requires an object, so it cannot close a clause.
- The passage's own gloss for this blank is its next sentence, which calls hearing necessary but not sufficient for listening.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing towards because listening moves in the direction of something, without noticing the blank has no object after it.
- Reading the blank sentence in isolation instead of using the next sentence, which restates the point.
This passage carries five blanks over one paragraph and mixes grammar blanks with vocabulary blanks.
A connector blank of the same kind is keyed at 9 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.21 (However) and a subordinator at 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.23 (Although).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.