When Evidence Supports Only Part of a Claim

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 college investigated whether singing in a community choir was associated with greater confidence among new students. The results lend support 1___ the proposed explanation, but fall short 2___ establishing it beyond doubt. Competing accounts remain plausible. The team separated a promising pattern in this group from the much broader claim that singing would benefit every learner.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   to

   Blank 2

   of

   Lend support to and fall short of distinguish support from conclusive proof.

2. Question 2 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use infer and assume: The participants had volunteered, so they might already have differed from students who did not join. It would be premature 1___ (infer) a universal rule from the sample. Such a conclusion would rest on several untested 2___ (assume). A general conclusion would require more than assuming that enthusiasm, prior experience and available time were evenly distributed.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   to infer

   Blank 2

   assumptions

   Premature takes a to-infinitive; several requires plural assumptions.

3. Question 3 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use one word per gap: The choir met regularly with a supportive leader, conditions that were not necessarily present in other activities. The claim holds only to the extent 1___ the underlying conditions are comparable. Outside that scope, its relevance remains open 2___ question. The finding could not simply be transferred to an unrelated setting without considering which of those conditions mattered.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   that

   Blank 2

   to

   To the extent that limits the claim; open to question marks uncertainty.

4. Question 4 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use forms of CONSISTENCY and ACCOUNT: One explanation was that singing itself built confidence; another was that already confident students were more likely to remain in the group. The pattern is 1___ (consistency) with the theory. It can, however, also be 2___ (account) for by differences in prior experience. Recognising that second possibility prevented a compatible pattern from being presented as a uniquely confirmed explanation.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   consistent

   Blank 2

   accounted

   Consistent with is adjectival; be accounted for is passive.

5. Question 5 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use one word per gap: The authors thought the activity worth investigating, but they did not propose that every college immediately copy the programme. The authors stop short 1___ recommending immediate adoption. They call 2___ independent replication before practical conclusions are drawn. Repeating the work with a new group would test whether the result depended on circumstances peculiar to the first study.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   of

   Blank 2

   for

   Stop short of marks restraint; call for means request or require.

6. Question 6 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use forms of INTERPRET and CAUTIOUS: The discussion section compared interpretations instead of treating the first plausible account as the only one available. The findings are open to more than one 1___ (interpret). The team therefore urges readers to treat them 2___ (cautious). This restraint concerned the strength of the inference, not an unwillingness to describe the observations clearly.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   interpretation

   Blank 2

   cautiously

   Interpretation is the count noun; cautiously is the adverb modifying treat.

7. Question 7 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use one word per gap: Some comparisons produced no clear difference, but the study included too few students to detect every difference of practical interest. The absence of a clear effect does not amount 1___ proof that no effect exists. It may simply reflect a lack 2___ statistical power. A limited test can leave an issue unresolved even when its calculations have been carried out correctly.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   to

   Blank 2

   of

   Amount to means be equivalent to; lack of identifies what is insufficient.

8. Question 8 · Cloze (text)

   Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.

   Use qualify and strong: The final report retained the useful observation while narrowing the conclusion attached to it. The conclusion needs 1___ (qualify) rather than abandonment. Its scope should be commensurate with the 2___ (strong) of the evidence. The authors presented the study as a starting point for a better investigation rather than a complete answer about all students.

   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   qualification / qualifying / to be qualified

   Blank 2

   strength

   Needs qualification, qualifying or to be qualified all express required qualification; strength is the noun after the.

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.