DIY Cloze
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DIY Cloze
Having not found anything available which is in the same missing letters format as the CEM tests seem to be I've set about creating my own.
Just wondered if anyone who's seen more than just the sample could give me any clues as to whether these are at approximately the right level?
Britain’s va_ _ed co_ _ _line has a long h_ _ _ory of accom_ _ _ating the e_ _ _matic figure of the smuggler and his il_ _ _it trade. History shows that the g_ _ _en age of smuggling began in the 18th c_ _ _ury and cont_ _ _ed on into the ea_ _y part of the 19th century. The probable ca_ _e of this pro_ _ _eration was the int_ _ _uction of a new tax called e_ _ _se, which com_ _ _ed with the already existing c_ _ _oms tax was used by con_ _ _utive gove_ _ _ents as a means to f_ _d the spi_ _ _ling costs of Britain’s wars in Europe.
The ro_ _ _tic image of the smuggler as a free sp_ _ _ted o_ _ _rtunist belongs solely within the conf_ _es of no_ _ls and fi_ _ _onalised accounts. The tr_ _h of the matter was that at sometime or o_ _ _r the ma_ _ _ity of the po_ _ _ation found in seaside towns up and down the cou_ _ _y, would have been inv_ _ _ed in or at least ben_ _ _ted from this il_ _ _al trade. From the f_ _ _ermen who used their boats to f_ _ _y the ca_ _o to shore to the farm lab_ _ _er who would then l_g the smuggled items in_ _ _d.
Hannibal and his army crossed the Alps in 218 BCE in 16 d_ _s, which is still con_ _ _ered an am_ _ing feat, taking into a_ _ount that it was late in the year and in uncharted ter_ _ _ory as far as Hannibal was concerned; that the a_ _y of course did not consist only of the foot so_ _ _ers and the ca_ _ _ry (none of whom had ever been ex_ _ _ed to the kind of w_ _ _her they exper_ _ _ced), but also of the supply trains with their pack a_ _ _als, the usual camp fol_ _ _ers; and last but not least the el_ _ _ants, most of whom did not su_ _ _ve the or_ _ _l.
Just wondered if anyone who's seen more than just the sample could give me any clues as to whether these are at approximately the right level?
Britain’s va_ _ed co_ _ _line has a long h_ _ _ory of accom_ _ _ating the e_ _ _matic figure of the smuggler and his il_ _ _it trade. History shows that the g_ _ _en age of smuggling began in the 18th c_ _ _ury and cont_ _ _ed on into the ea_ _y part of the 19th century. The probable ca_ _e of this pro_ _ _eration was the int_ _ _uction of a new tax called e_ _ _se, which com_ _ _ed with the already existing c_ _ _oms tax was used by con_ _ _utive gove_ _ _ents as a means to f_ _d the spi_ _ _ling costs of Britain’s wars in Europe.
The ro_ _ _tic image of the smuggler as a free sp_ _ _ted o_ _ _rtunist belongs solely within the conf_ _es of no_ _ls and fi_ _ _onalised accounts. The tr_ _h of the matter was that at sometime or o_ _ _r the ma_ _ _ity of the po_ _ _ation found in seaside towns up and down the cou_ _ _y, would have been inv_ _ _ed in or at least ben_ _ _ted from this il_ _ _al trade. From the f_ _ _ermen who used their boats to f_ _ _y the ca_ _o to shore to the farm lab_ _ _er who would then l_g the smuggled items in_ _ _d.
Hannibal and his army crossed the Alps in 218 BCE in 16 d_ _s, which is still con_ _ _ered an am_ _ing feat, taking into a_ _ount that it was late in the year and in uncharted ter_ _ _ory as far as Hannibal was concerned; that the a_ _y of course did not consist only of the foot so_ _ _ers and the ca_ _ _ry (none of whom had ever been ex_ _ _ed to the kind of w_ _ _her they exper_ _ _ced), but also of the supply trains with their pack a_ _ _als, the usual camp fol_ _ _ers; and last but not least the el_ _ _ants, most of whom did not su_ _ _ve the or_ _ _l.
Re: DIY Cloze
I'm no expert and haven't seen anything other than the samples but that is at about the level I aimed at just before the tests (I started easier to build confidence). I avoided taking letters out of consecutive words but I don't know if that is how the CEM cloze works.
Re: DIY Cloze
That is superb, Okanagan! Please can you post some more as I am too thick/lazy to make up my own!
Re: DIY Cloze
Ok - one more. I'm aiming to produce one a day (which might vary in length quite a bit depending upon how much time I have!) for ds so perhaps once the exam is over I'll bundle up the collection and post it as a resource.Bad Dad wrote:That is superb, Okanagan! Please can you post some more as I am too thick/lazy to make up my own!
While the devel_ _ _ent of s_ _ _ntific navigation was proceeding in the West, the Polynesian people of the South Pacific had been navigating with con_ _ _ence over thousands of miles of nearly empty o_ _ _n using no com_ _ _es, charts, or sextants. They looked upon navigation not merely as a tech_ _ _ue for getting from one i_ _ _nd to another, but as a “way” - a combi_ _ _ion of philoso_ _ _ and relig_ _ _, a way of life into which one was initiated. These navigators knew the sky the way we know the face of the people we love, even if parts were obs_ _ _ed.
Navigators were held in as high est_ _ _ - or higher - than the leaders of the soc_ _ _ies. Generally each island maintained a guild of navigators who in times of fam_ _ _ or difficulty could trade for aid or eva_ _ _te people to nei_ _ _ouring islands.
In order to deter_ _ _e directions at various times of day and year, navigators would memo_ _ _e important facts: the motion of specific stars, where they would rise and set on the hor_ _ _n of the ocean; weather and the sea_ _ _s of travel; wildlife sp_ _ _es (which gather at particular pos_ _ _ons); the direction, size and, sp_ _ _ of ocean waves; colours of the sea and sky, especially how clouds would cluster at the locations of some islands; and angles for approaching harb_ _ _s.
This system of navigation was passed by oral tra_ _ _ion from navigator to app_ _ _tice, often in the form of song. To become ad_ _t at this required many years of training, and not everyone reached the point of being a fully ini_ _ _ted navigator.
One who did said that the true navigator reaches a point where it is not that you go out in se_ _ _h of the island; inst_ _ _, you point your boat in the right direction, and the island comes to you.
Knowledge of these traditional methods of navigation was largely lost after cont_ _ _ with and colo_ _ _ation by Europeans.
Re: DIY Cloze
The level looks great...
Although Warks won't send the 2012 sample papers out until 2 weeks before the test, and I am wondering if they will change the cloze format or not....
Although Warks won't send the 2012 sample papers out until 2 weeks before the test, and I am wondering if they will change the cloze format or not....
Re: DIY Cloze
I know - I'm quite envious of all those in areas where they actually know the format of the test and the style of questions they can expect.um wrote:The level looks great...
Although Warks won't send the 2012 sample papers out until 2 weeks before the test, and I am wondering if they will change the cloze format or not....
Re: DIY Cloze
My DD found those very difficult, she only got a couple of the words, if this is the level looks like she has a bit of work to do!!! Thanks for posting them.
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fairyelephant
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Re: DIY Cloze
Thanks Okanagan for sharing your hard work. My dd is sitting a cem paper to be used for the first time in Barnet, so we are very new to this cloze business!
Re: DIY Cloze
There are a few examples around on the B/Ham thread.
I created the following Cloze from an actually passage used in previous Univ of Durham CEM 11+ tests.
Easter Island's End
By Jared Diamond, in Discover Magazine
August 1995
In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society 1[ascend, terminate, spiral, augment] into chaos and cannibalism. Are we about to follow their lead?
Among the most riveting mysteries of human history are those posed by vanished civilizations. Everyone who has seen the abandoned buildings of the Khmer, the Maya, or the Anasazi is immediately moved to ask the same question: Why did the societies that erected those structures disappear?
Their vanishing touches us as the disappearance of other animals, even the dinosaurs, never can. No matter how exotic those lost civilizations seem, their framers were humans like us. Who is to say we won't succumb to the same fate? Perhaps someday New York's skyscrapers will stand 2[sterile, derelict, proud, subdued] and overgrown with vegetation, like the temples at Angkor Wat and Tikal.
Among all such vanished civilizations, that of the former Polynesian society on Easter Island remains 3[unsurpassed, common, precarious, inhospitable] in mystery and isolation. The mystery stems especially from the island's gigantic stone statues and its impoverished landscape, but it is enhanced by our associations with the specific people involved: Polynesians represent for us the ultimate in exotic romance, the background for many a child's, and an adult's, vision of paradise. My own interest in Easter was kindled over 30 years ago when I read Thor Heyerdahl's fabulous accounts of his Kon-Tiki voyage.
But my interest has been revived recently by a much more exciting account, one not of heroic voyages but of painstaking research and analysis. My friend David Steadman, a paleontologist, has been working with a number of other researchers who are carrying out the first 4[hollow, systematic, spade, superfluous] excavations on Easter intended to identify the animals and plants that once lived there. Their work is contributing to a new 5[genesis, interpretation, library, antiquity] of the island's history that makes it a tale not only of wonder but of warning as well.
Easter Island, with an area of only 64 square miles, is the world's most 6[subterranean, precarious, passive, isolated] scrap of habitable land. It lies in the Pacific Ocean more than 2,000 miles west of the nearest continent (South America), 1,400 miles from even the nearest habitable island (Pitcairn). Its 7 [equatorial, strategic, subtropical, Antarctic] location and latitude-at 27 degrees south, it is approximately as far below the equator as Houston is north of it-help give it a rather mild climate, while its volcanic origins make its soil 8[arid, toxic, fertile, desert]. In theory, this combination of blessings should have made Easter a miniature paradise, remote from problems that beset the rest of the world.
The island derives its name from its "discovery" by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, on Easter (April 5) in 1722. Roggeveen's first impression was not of a paradise but of a wasteland: "We originally, from a further distance, have considered the said Easter Island as sandy; the reason for that is this, that we counted as sand the withered grass, hay, or other scorched and burnt vegetation, because its wasted appearance could give no other impression than of a singular poverty and barrenness."
The island Roggeveen saw was a grassland without a single tree or bush over ten feet high. Modern botanists have identified only 47 species of higher plants native to Easter, most of them grasses, sedges, and ferns. The list includes just two species of small trees and two of woody shrubs. With such flora, the islanders Roggeveen encountered had no source of real firewood to warm themselves during Easter's cool, wet, windy winters. Their native animals included nothing larger than insects, not even a single species of native bat, land bird, land snail, or lizard. For domestic animals, they had only chickens. European visitors throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries 9[counted, estimated, interpolated, calculated] Easter's human population at about 2,000, a modest number considering the island's fertility. As Captain James Cook recognized during his brief visit in 1774, the islanders were Polynesians (a Tahitian man accompanying Cook was able to converse with them). Yet despite the Polynesians' well-deserved fame as a great seafaring people, the Easter Islanders who came out to Roggeveen's and Cook's ships did so by swimming or paddling canoes that Roggeveen described as "bad and frail." Their craft, he wrote, were "put together with manifold small planks and light inner timbers, which they cleverly stitched together with very fine twisted threads. . . . But as they lack the 10[knowledge, incision, pigment, energy] and particularly the materials for caulking and making tight the great number of seams of the canoes, these are accordingly very leaky, for which reason they are compelled to spend half the time in bailing." The canoes, only ten feet long, held at most two people, and only three or four canoes were observed on the entire island.
With such flimsy craft, Polynesians could never have colonized Easter from even the nearest island, nor could they have travelled far offshore to fish. The islanders Roggeveen met were totally isolated, unaware that other people existed. Investigators in all the years since his visit have discovered no trace of the islanders' having any outside contacts: not a single Easter Island rock or product has turned up elsewhere, nor has anything been found on the island that could have been brought by anyone other than the original settlers or the Europeans. Yet the people living on Easter claimed memories of visiting the uninhabited Sala y Gomez reef 260 miles away, far beyond the range of the leaky canoes seen by Roggeveen. How did the islanders' ancestors reach that reef from Easter, or reach Easter from anywhere else?
Easter Island's most famous feature is its huge stone statues, more than 200 of which once stood on massive stone platforms lining the coast. At least 700 more, in all stages of completion, were abandoned in quarries or on ancient roads between the quarries and the coast, as if the carvers and moving crews had thrown down their tools and walked off the job. Most of the erected statues were carved in a single quarry and then somehow transported as far as six miles-despite heights as great as 33 feet and weights up to 82 tons. The abandoned statues, meanwhile, were as much as 65 feet tall and weighed up to 270 tons. The stone platforms were equally gigantic: up to 500 feet long and 10 feet high, with facing slabs weighing up to 10 tons.
Roggeveen himself quickly recognized the problem the statues posed: "The stone images at first caused us to be struck with astonishment," he wrote, "because we could not comprehend how it was possible that these people, who are devoid of heavy thick timber for making any machines, as well as strong ropes, nevertheless had been able to erect such images." Roggeveen might have added that the islanders had no wheels, no draft animals, and no source of power except their own muscles. How did they transport the giant statues for miles, even before erecting them? To deepen the mystery, the statues were still standing in 1770, but by 1864 all of them had been pulled down, by the islanders themselves. Why then did they carve them in the first place? And why did they stop?
Try the following link for DIY cloze tests
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 11&t=16846
Hope this helps
I created the following Cloze from an actually passage used in previous Univ of Durham CEM 11+ tests.
Easter Island's End
By Jared Diamond, in Discover Magazine
August 1995
In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society 1[ascend, terminate, spiral, augment] into chaos and cannibalism. Are we about to follow their lead?
Among the most riveting mysteries of human history are those posed by vanished civilizations. Everyone who has seen the abandoned buildings of the Khmer, the Maya, or the Anasazi is immediately moved to ask the same question: Why did the societies that erected those structures disappear?
Their vanishing touches us as the disappearance of other animals, even the dinosaurs, never can. No matter how exotic those lost civilizations seem, their framers were humans like us. Who is to say we won't succumb to the same fate? Perhaps someday New York's skyscrapers will stand 2[sterile, derelict, proud, subdued] and overgrown with vegetation, like the temples at Angkor Wat and Tikal.
Among all such vanished civilizations, that of the former Polynesian society on Easter Island remains 3[unsurpassed, common, precarious, inhospitable] in mystery and isolation. The mystery stems especially from the island's gigantic stone statues and its impoverished landscape, but it is enhanced by our associations with the specific people involved: Polynesians represent for us the ultimate in exotic romance, the background for many a child's, and an adult's, vision of paradise. My own interest in Easter was kindled over 30 years ago when I read Thor Heyerdahl's fabulous accounts of his Kon-Tiki voyage.
But my interest has been revived recently by a much more exciting account, one not of heroic voyages but of painstaking research and analysis. My friend David Steadman, a paleontologist, has been working with a number of other researchers who are carrying out the first 4[hollow, systematic, spade, superfluous] excavations on Easter intended to identify the animals and plants that once lived there. Their work is contributing to a new 5[genesis, interpretation, library, antiquity] of the island's history that makes it a tale not only of wonder but of warning as well.
Easter Island, with an area of only 64 square miles, is the world's most 6[subterranean, precarious, passive, isolated] scrap of habitable land. It lies in the Pacific Ocean more than 2,000 miles west of the nearest continent (South America), 1,400 miles from even the nearest habitable island (Pitcairn). Its 7 [equatorial, strategic, subtropical, Antarctic] location and latitude-at 27 degrees south, it is approximately as far below the equator as Houston is north of it-help give it a rather mild climate, while its volcanic origins make its soil 8[arid, toxic, fertile, desert]. In theory, this combination of blessings should have made Easter a miniature paradise, remote from problems that beset the rest of the world.
The island derives its name from its "discovery" by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, on Easter (April 5) in 1722. Roggeveen's first impression was not of a paradise but of a wasteland: "We originally, from a further distance, have considered the said Easter Island as sandy; the reason for that is this, that we counted as sand the withered grass, hay, or other scorched and burnt vegetation, because its wasted appearance could give no other impression than of a singular poverty and barrenness."
The island Roggeveen saw was a grassland without a single tree or bush over ten feet high. Modern botanists have identified only 47 species of higher plants native to Easter, most of them grasses, sedges, and ferns. The list includes just two species of small trees and two of woody shrubs. With such flora, the islanders Roggeveen encountered had no source of real firewood to warm themselves during Easter's cool, wet, windy winters. Their native animals included nothing larger than insects, not even a single species of native bat, land bird, land snail, or lizard. For domestic animals, they had only chickens. European visitors throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries 9[counted, estimated, interpolated, calculated] Easter's human population at about 2,000, a modest number considering the island's fertility. As Captain James Cook recognized during his brief visit in 1774, the islanders were Polynesians (a Tahitian man accompanying Cook was able to converse with them). Yet despite the Polynesians' well-deserved fame as a great seafaring people, the Easter Islanders who came out to Roggeveen's and Cook's ships did so by swimming or paddling canoes that Roggeveen described as "bad and frail." Their craft, he wrote, were "put together with manifold small planks and light inner timbers, which they cleverly stitched together with very fine twisted threads. . . . But as they lack the 10[knowledge, incision, pigment, energy] and particularly the materials for caulking and making tight the great number of seams of the canoes, these are accordingly very leaky, for which reason they are compelled to spend half the time in bailing." The canoes, only ten feet long, held at most two people, and only three or four canoes were observed on the entire island.
With such flimsy craft, Polynesians could never have colonized Easter from even the nearest island, nor could they have travelled far offshore to fish. The islanders Roggeveen met were totally isolated, unaware that other people existed. Investigators in all the years since his visit have discovered no trace of the islanders' having any outside contacts: not a single Easter Island rock or product has turned up elsewhere, nor has anything been found on the island that could have been brought by anyone other than the original settlers or the Europeans. Yet the people living on Easter claimed memories of visiting the uninhabited Sala y Gomez reef 260 miles away, far beyond the range of the leaky canoes seen by Roggeveen. How did the islanders' ancestors reach that reef from Easter, or reach Easter from anywhere else?
Easter Island's most famous feature is its huge stone statues, more than 200 of which once stood on massive stone platforms lining the coast. At least 700 more, in all stages of completion, were abandoned in quarries or on ancient roads between the quarries and the coast, as if the carvers and moving crews had thrown down their tools and walked off the job. Most of the erected statues were carved in a single quarry and then somehow transported as far as six miles-despite heights as great as 33 feet and weights up to 82 tons. The abandoned statues, meanwhile, were as much as 65 feet tall and weighed up to 270 tons. The stone platforms were equally gigantic: up to 500 feet long and 10 feet high, with facing slabs weighing up to 10 tons.
Roggeveen himself quickly recognized the problem the statues posed: "The stone images at first caused us to be struck with astonishment," he wrote, "because we could not comprehend how it was possible that these people, who are devoid of heavy thick timber for making any machines, as well as strong ropes, nevertheless had been able to erect such images." Roggeveen might have added that the islanders had no wheels, no draft animals, and no source of power except their own muscles. How did they transport the giant statues for miles, even before erecting them? To deepen the mystery, the statues were still standing in 1770, but by 1864 all of them had been pulled down, by the islanders themselves. Why then did they carve them in the first place? And why did they stop?
Try the following link for DIY cloze tests
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 11&t=16846
Hope this helps