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

Ernest

11 students marked "I sat this"Added 10 Jan 2021Question #120317

Choose the word for each blank.

Ernest Shackleton was a British explorer of the South Pole who is best remembered for leading his crew to safety after the failed expedition of the Endurance (1914–16). Shackleton had been a junior officer on Robert Falcon Scott's discovery 1 (1902–03), and his travels with the Nimrod (1907-09) had taken him closer to the South Pole than anyone before. After Roald Amundsen reached the Pole in 1911, Shackleton and a crew of 28 men set out in his ship Endurance in 1914, in the 2 of being the first to cross the polar continent. The ship was frozen in ice, then crushed, and Shackleton and his men set out in lifeboats after nearly a year and a half on the ice. Shackleton, known as "The Boss," took five men and sailed 800 miles in an open boat from Elephant Island to the island of South Georgia, then went back and 3 the rest of his crew, all of whom survived. Almost two years after starting out, they reached safety in South America in September 1916. In spite of his heroics, Shackleton had a hard time back in England with finances and alcohol. He 4 managed to get financing for another voyage to Antarctica in 1921, but he had a fatal heart attack at South Georgia Island and 5 made it.

Options for each gap (alphabetical)

  • 1 expedition · location · situation · venue
  • 2 dreams · event · forefront · hope
  • 3 determined · encouraged · relieved · saved
  • 4 casually · eventually · immediately · reluctantly
  • 5 confidently · nearly · never · regretably

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.