Comprehension Cloze
Fill 15 blanks in a passage with words that are both grammatically correct and contextually appropriate. Wrong part of speech or meaning scores zero even if close.
How comprehension cloze works in PSLE: A passage has 15 blanks. For each blank, fill in one suitable word. No options are provided — you must think of the correct word yourself. The word must be both grammatically correct (right tense, word form, part of speech) and contextually appropriate (right meaning for that sentence). Read the surrounding sentences carefully for clues.
Passage — "The Last Tree on Clementi Street"
For sixty years, the old rain tree on Clementi Street had (1)______ at the corner of the road, its broad canopy (2)______ shade for the hawkers and schoolchildren who passed beneath it each day. Residents of the neighbourhood had grown so (3)______ to its presence that most no longer noticed it at all — it had simply become part of the (4)______, as unremarkable as the post box or the fire hydrant nearby.
That changed on a Tuesday morning in March, when a notice was (5)______ to the tree's trunk: the tree was to be removed to (6)______ the construction of a covered walkway. Within hours, photographs of the notice had (7)______ across neighbourhood chat groups, and by evening, a small crowd had (8)______ beneath the very branches that were threatened.
Among them was Mrs Lim, a retired teacher in her seventies, who had (9)______ every stage of her life beneath this tree — her children's first days of school, her husband's retirement party, and finally, a quiet afternoon spent reading the letter that told her she was a grandmother. "It is not just a tree," she told a reporter who had arrived to (10)______ the gathering. "It is a (11)______ to all our ordinary moments."
The town council, (12)______ of the growing concern, agreed to (13)______ residents before making a final decision. Three weeks later, a revised plan was announced: the walkway would be (14)______ around the tree. It would cost more and take longer, but the rain tree on Clementi Street would (15)______.
That changed on a Tuesday morning in March, when a notice was (5)______ to the tree's trunk: the tree was to be removed to (6)______ the construction of a covered walkway. Within hours, photographs of the notice had (7)______ across neighbourhood chat groups, and by evening, a small crowd had (8)______ beneath the very branches that were threatened.
Among them was Mrs Lim, a retired teacher in her seventies, who had (9)______ every stage of her life beneath this tree — her children's first days of school, her husband's retirement party, and finally, a quiet afternoon spent reading the letter that told her she was a grandmother. "It is not just a tree," she told a reporter who had arrived to (10)______ the gathering. "It is a (11)______ to all our ordinary moments."
The town council, (12)______ of the growing concern, agreed to (13)______ residents before making a final decision. Three weeks later, a revised plan was announced: the walkway would be (14)______ around the tree. It would cost more and take longer, but the rain tree on Clementi Street would (15)______.
Fill in each blank with a suitable word