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

Baby difference

42 students marked "I sat this"Added 6 Feb 2021Question #120341

Choose the word for each blank.

How can you tell the difference between a French baby and a German baby? No, it's not that one is wearing a saucy little beret while the other is tucked into tiny pair of lederhosen. Well, maybe that's part of it. But a new study in the journal Current Biology shows that the babies actually sound different. Because the melody of an infant's cry matches its mother tongue.We all know that babies start 1 while they're still in the womb. So when they come out, they know their mother's voice. When they're older, they start to imitate the sounds they hear. Eventually they babble, and then start to speak, and then you never hear the end of it. But long before that first burble or coo, babies are 2 the 3 of language.A team of 4 recorded the cries of 60 5: 30 born into 6 families and 30 that heard German. And they found that French infants wail on a rising note while the Germans favor a falling melody . Those 7 match the rhythms of their native languages. So next time you hear a baby cry, listen closely. He could be telling you where he's from.

Options for each gap (alphabetical)

  • 1 cantikevering · eavesdropping · peopling · reasoning
  • 2 canning · learning · matting · returning
  • 3 elements · gydrocephalus · protentousness · relentlessness
  • 4 elephantiasis · hybridise · iodise · scientists
  • 5 dessertspoonfuls · goofballs · newborns · roomfuls
  • 6 french-speaking · grieving · mechanising · surceasing
  • 7 actions · assassins · patterns · spongers

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.