A Minister Resigns

Cambridge Advanced (CAE) Use of English Practice

The Home Secretary Resigns

This exercise gives you practice in the cloze exercises where you have to modify words

to complete the text. Complete the gaps using the correct form of the word given in

bold.

1) Resign

2) Speculate

3) Proper

4) Controversy

5) Speak

6) Accuse

7) Apply

8) Inquire

9) Choose

10) Know

11) Tolerate

12) Repress

13) Terror

14) Text

15) Free

The (1)_______ of the Home Secretary was announced today after

days of (2) _______. The minister denied that he had done

anything (3) _______, though the evidence against him published in

the newspapers suggested that this was not the case.

Always a (4) _______ figure, he lost the support of many of his

colleagues because of his (5) _______ criticisms of them which

were published in a recent biography. When the first (6) _______

that he had abused his position to help the visa (7) _______ of his

lover’s nanny, an (8) _______ was set up. When an email came to

light that said that no favours were given, but the process had been

speeded up, the minister felt that he had no (9) _______ but to

resign, though he claimed that he had no (10) _______ of the email

until the day before he quit.

His opponents considered him an (11) _______ politician who

passed a number of (12) _______ laws, exaggerating the threat

posed by international (13) _______ as a (14) _______ for passing

measures to restrict our (15) _______.