How Public Debates Are Framed

Study the questions and tasks

Work through the material below, or start the interactive practice above to complete an attempt. Try the exercises before opening any answer or transcript sections, then use them to review your work.

Practice level

C1. Try this level if you can follow the instructions and understand most of the language; choose an earlier level if you need more support.

Question formats

Cloze (text)

How to approach this practice

Read the complete context. Check both the meaning and the grammar, including word forms, collocations and links between sentences.

1. Question 1 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use one word per gap: A newspaper feature examined the language used in a debate about turning a market street into a pedestrian area. How a question is framed has a bearing 1___ the answers people consider. A choice presented as inevitable may leave alternatives out 2___ account. The writer began by asking which possibilities disappeared when the argument was reduced to accepting change or resisting it.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   on / upon

   Blank 2

   of

   Have a bearing on means affect; leave out of account means fail to consider.

2. Question 2 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use imply and explicit: Campaigners on both sides chose descriptions that appeared factual while suggesting a judgement about the other side's motives. A label can carry an 1___ (imply) that is never stated 2___ (explicit). Readers may accept the implication without noticing it. Calling a proposal a restriction or an improvement could influence its reception before any practical details were examined.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   implication

   Blank 2

   explicitly

   Implication is a noun; explicitly modifies stated.

3. Question 3 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use one word per gap: One dispute concerned whether convenient parking was something residents valued or something they had an unconditional right to retain. The debate hinges 1___ a distinction between preference and entitlement. Blurring that distinction can give rise 2___ misleading conclusions. Different answers to that question could produce disagreement even among people who accepted the same traffic figures.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   on / upon

   Blank 2

   to

   Hinge on marks a central dependency; give rise to means cause.

4. Question 4 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use define and coherent: At a public meeting, speakers repeatedly agreed about access while apparently meaning different things by the same word. The participants agreed on the need for clearer 1___ (define). Without them, apparent agreement could conceal a lack of 2___ (coherent). A parent, a delivery driver and a wheelchair user might each have a different practical concern in mind.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   definitions

   Blank 2

   coherence

   Clearer definitions requires a plural noun; coherence is an abstract noun after of.

5. Question 5 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use one word per gap: A shop owner accepted the need to reduce through traffic but questioned the proposed delivery hours. A concession on one point need not amount 1___ acceptance of the whole argument. Its significance must be assessed in relation 2___ the claim actually made. Reporting that acceptance as support for every detail would remove the limit that made the concession meaningful.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   to

   Blank 2

   to

   Amount to expresses equivalence; in relation to identifies the relevant comparison.

6. Question 6 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use frame and consider: A later speech described the issue as a victory for one group and a defeat for another. By 1___ (frame) the issue as a contest, the speaker discouraged 2___ (consider) of shared interests. That description made compromise harder to discuss, even though both groups wanted a street that people could use comfortably.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   framing

   Blank 2

   consideration

   By takes an ing form; consideration is the noun followed by of.

7. Question 7 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use one word per gap: The feature argued that fair disagreement requires taking the actual proposal seriously rather than replacing it with an easier target. The strongest version of an opposing argument deserves to be addressed on its own 1___. Dismissing a weaker substitute is beside the 2___. An accurate account of a rival position gives readers a better basis for judging its strengths and weaknesses.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   terms / merits

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   point

   On its own terms and beside the point are fixed expressions.

8. Question 8 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use forms of QUALIFY and PERSUADE: The writer ended by distinguishing precise qualifications from evasive language that hides what a speaker is prepared to claim. Careful 1___ (qualify) can make an argument more 2___ (persuade), because its limits are made visible rather than concealed. A carefully limited argument can be more useful than an absolute statement whose apparent clarity depends on ignoring exceptions.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   qualification

   Blank 2

   persuasive

   Qualification is the noun; persuasive is the adjective after more.

What to review next

Explain why each answer fits the meaning and structure. Record useful phrases and write a new example using each pattern you found difficult.

A focused practice result shows how you did on these tasks. Use several activities across skills to decide what to study next; one practice score does not certify an overall CEFR level.