Duolingo: Task 12, Complete the Passage
- Complete the Passage
This is another form of a fill in the blank exercise whereby the test-taker has to complete a paragraph with the appropriate sentence instead of a single word.
Praxis: Choose the sentence on the right side of the page to fill in a gap between two sentences. There may be 6 of these tasks to complete in the 7 to 8 minutes. Again, it depends on when the algorithm is ‘satisfied’.
Time: 7 or 8:00 minutes.
TIPS:
Read each passage on both sides of the gap and try to understand the context – find the topic sentence!
The sentence that completes the paragraph will undoubtedly be a Support or detail/example!
For example:
7 or 8 minutes
6:31
| Quit Test |
| Passage
French and English doctors sometimes have different ideas about medical care. In France, doctors often give strong medicine to move blood to the brain. However, doctors in England do not think that is helpful.
But in England, doctors often say that stomach problems are not serious at all. They usually think stomach problems are caused by worrying too much. French Doctors are usually interested in trying out a variety of new treatments. English doctors, however, first wait to see if the new treatments really work. |
Select the best sentence to fill in the blank
1. French doctors worry too much.
2. French doctors are just like English doctors.
3. French doctors often worry about a patient’s liver and diet. But English doctors do not. And French doctors take stomach illnesses very seriously.
4. French doctors stand in the doorways and thing about English doctors.
5 French doctors consider the opinions of the patient and then consult an English doctor as to what the best medicine is.
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You must know: Reading, Paragraphing- especially with Support Sentences and examples/ detail.
This task is basically about how well a test-taker understands the Paragraph form. Because the test-taker has to choose a sentence or two to ‘Complete the Passage’, he or she should be aware that 98% of the time the choice will be either a Support Sentence (supporting idea, the main idea, or controlling idea), or an example that illustrates a Supporting Sentence, or both – usually a 2 sentence maximum length for this exercise. Test-takers should be able to score 100 % on this exercise if they can locate the topic sentence of the paragraph and read forward in the text to know what should come next or is missing from the text.
Procedure:
- Read the 1st half of the text and try to fully understand the topic sentence (Topic + Controlling idea/ Main idea) so that you know what the paragraph is about.
- Just read through the options to the right
- Read the second 2nd half of the text
- Know a paragraph outline (since you are undoubtedly looking for a Support Sentence or an example (or both) to complete this passage
- Choose the correct sentence from the right side of the page.
For example:
| A sub-species of grizzly bear has been discovered in Canada’s Yukon quite by accident.
Biologist Alan Parsons and his partner Elaine Bennis were gathering fern spores for lab analysis when they came across an abandoned bear cub.
After nursing the cub for five days, the pair returned with the cub to Vancouver, where they delivered it to the city’s South Park Zoo. It was at this point that that the Zoo’s on-call mammologist and bear specialist, Dr. Tim Whatley, made the discovery of the Ursidae sub-species.
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Select the best sentence to fill in the blank in the passage:
i. The bear cub was lost in the forest. ii. The bear cub made hand signals to the humans to show it was in trouble. iii. It was breathing shallowly and appeared close to death, so the scientists took it back to their research camp.
iv. The bear no attempt to open its eyes when poked with a stick.
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