Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks · Part 2: Reading

Writing style

31 students marked "I sat this"Added 27 May 2020Question #120235

Choose the word for each blank.

Learning to write well in college means learning (or re-learning) how to write clearly and plainly. Now that doesn’t mean that plainness is the only good style, or that you should become a 1 to spare, unadorned writing. Formality and ornateness have their place, and in 2 hands complexity can take us on a dizzying, breathtaking journey. But most students, most of the time should 3 to be sensibly simple to develop a baseline style of short words, active verbs and relatively simple sentence 4 clear actions or identities. It's faster, it makes arguments easier to follow, it increases the chances a busy reader will bother to pay attention, and it lets you 5 more attention on your moments of rhetorical flourish which I do not advise abandoning altogether.

Options for each gap (alphabetical)

  • 1 person · slave · soldier · staff
  • 2 competent · empty · full · half
  • 3 rinse · rotate · strive · struggle
  • 4 conveying · demonstrating · loading · making
  • 5 converge · focus · notice · pay

More Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks questions

Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks format (Pearson)

Pearson's name: Fill in the Blanks (Dropdown)

PromptText up to 200 words
Time to answerNot set per question (Part 2 lasts 23–30 minutes)
Skills assessedReading, Writing

How it is scored

  • Partial credit applies: a partly correct response still scores.

Source: Pearson, PTE Academic & UKVI test format, Part 2: Reading, checked 9 October 2026.