Duolingo: Task 1, Read and Complete
- Read and Complete
Read and Complete simply asks the test-taker to complete the words in a paragraph. Test-takers should familiarize themselves with Parts of Speech at first and then add vocabulary. Remember there are three levels to Read and Complete, so your first attempt might be easy and then the next attempt may be more difficult – the vocabulary increases the difficulty – know your suffixes.
Praxis: You must type in letters to complete words in a given paragraph.
Time: 3 minutes
TIPS:
Read the passage before focusing, trying to spell each word.
Use ‘context clues’ or the ‘topic’ and your background schemata on the topic to help you make an educated guess about what the word (s) may be.
For example: 3:00
2:55 (clock time on screen)
Type the missing letters to complete the text below
My holid _ _ in Cuba was very excit _ _ _ . T _ _ food was g _ _ _ as well …etc (You should be prepared to fill in from 10 to 15 words in this Task)
Answer: My holiday in Cuba was very exciting. The food was good as well
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You must know: Parts of Speech (see Appendix)
The key to this Duolingo task is to study all Parts of Speech and know Articles (a, an, and ‘the’) because many of the smaller words will be prepositions, articles, pronouns, conjunctions, or even interjections that need an exclamation mark (!). The larger words will possibly include adverbs, some verbs, adjectives, and nouns.
*Remember: Level 2 and 3 will use more difficult forms of words – adding suffixes to create different word forms.
Example:
Man _ _ pe_ _ _ think that s _ _ is suit _ _ _ _ f _ _ this j _ _ .
Many people think that she is suitable for this job.
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When you fill in the blanks, the context (what is being said) and the grammar have to be correct to get maximum points.
Also, the English language syntax is usually written and spoken in the form Subject + Verb + Object, so by knowing this a test-taker can take advantage of this. For example, an object pronoun has to be ‘after’ the verb:
I wor _ _ _ wi_ _ h _ _.
I worked with him. Not, I worked with he.
(Object pronoun – him) (Subject pronoun – he)
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Approach: Read through the text sentence by sentence. With each sentence fill in all the smaller words first and then complete the longer words in the same sentence and then move on. Practice Read and Complete in Part 3. Answers can be found in Part 4.