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Playbook

Fill in the Blanks

55 q. Sentence-scoped (vs Cloze's passage scope). Contextual (45 q) tests vocab + collocation; Phrasal/Collocation (10 q) tests fixed phrasal verbs (look up, get over, take after).

questions in the bank
55
tagged HARD
2%
subtopic(s) covered
2
worked examples
1

When you’ll see it

A single sentence with one blank; pick the word that best fits.

How this question type works

55 q. Sentence-scoped (vs Cloze's passage scope). Two flavours: Contextual (45 q — vocab/collocation in the blank) and Phrasal Verbs/Collocations (10 q — fixed phrasal verbs: look up, get over, take after, run into).

Contextual blanks reward vocabulary breadth — same word families as the Vocab Synonyms playbook. The difference: FIB constrains the answer by sentence grammar (the blank's part of speech is fixed by the surrounding words), so options that don't fit grammatically are eliminable first.

Phrasal Verbs reward memorising the standard ~50 phrasal verbs (look up/down/into/forward to/after; get up/over/by/around; take after/up/on/in). Idiom-style fixed phrases — there's no rule, only recognition.

The sub-skills

The rules and habits that decide whether you get this question right.

  • Eliminate by part of speech first

    If the blank is followed by 'a' + noun, the blank is a verb or adjective — options that are nouns can be dropped immediately.

  • Vocabulary breadth (Synonyms playbook word families)

    Most Contextual FIB blanks pick from the same word pool as Synonyms. Familiarity with the 13 vocab families pays double here.

  • Phrasal-verb pattern recognition

    Memorise the standard 50 phrasal verbs and their meanings. 'Take after' (resemble) vs 'take up' (start hobby) vs 'take in' (deceive or absorb). Same root, very different meanings.

1 worked example from the bank

Real past-year questions tagged to this playbook. Click to reveal options + solution.

Example 1Fill in the BlanksEASY
Directions : In this section, each of the following sentences has a blank space and is followed by four words. Select the word you consider most appropriate to fill in the blank space and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly.
As the Southwest monsoon ________ through most of July, flash floods caused by the waters of the Narmada hit Jabalpur town.

[Q1 · Sep · 2023]

Traps to expect

Distractor shapes specific to this playbook. The page-wide Traps section covers the bank-level patterns.

  • Plausible word, wrong register

    A word that fits meaning but breaks formality. Formal stems take 'commence', not 'start' or 'kick off'.

  • Near-collocation that doesn't pair

    'Do business' is correct; 'make business' is wrong. 'Take a decision' (IndE) vs 'make a decision' (BrE/AmE) — NDA usually accepts both.

Drill every fill in the blanks question

55 questions from the bank, scoped to 2 bundled subtopics.

Drill the 55 questions

Related playbooks

Often paired with this one — drill these next if you found the worked examples above tractable.