Expert Judgement and Its Limits

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

C2. 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 (dropdown)

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 (dropdown)

   Choose the correct option for each blank.

   Choose the best option for each gap: An archivist asked specialists to assess letters attributed to a writer whose surviving correspondence was unusually sparse. Expertise confers authority, not 1___. The most reliable experts recognise the limits of their own 2___. Their professional authority gave weight to their reasoning, while leaving open the possibility that an unfamiliar feature had been interpreted incorrectly.

   Choices for blank 1

   1. ignorance
   2. uncertainty
   3. fallibility
   4. infallibility

   Choices for blank 2

   1. competence
   2. compliance
   3. compete
   4. competently
   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   infallibility

   Blank 2

   competence

   Infallibility means inability to err; competence is the noun after their own.

2. Question 2 · Cloze (dropdown)

   Choose the correct option for each blank.

   Choose the best option for each gap: A later discovery provided evidence that the original panel could not have consulted, and its attribution consequently had to be reconsidered. A judgement may be defensible on the evidence then at 1___ yet fail to predict the eventual outcome. Hindsight should not be mistaken 2___ prior knowledge. The review distinguished a justifiable earlier judgement from the different question of whether that judgement agreed with knowledge acquired afterwards.

   Choices for blank 1

   1. palm
   2. arm
   3. hand
   4. finger

   Choices for blank 2

   1. for
   2. to
   3. at
   4. with
   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   hand

   Blank 2

   for

   At hand means available; mistake for means wrongly identify as.

3. Question 3 · Cloze (dropdown)

   Choose the correct option for each blank.

   Choose the best option for each gap: The archive commissioned an account of the assessment procedure instead of treating a changed attribution as a complete verdict on its quality. The review concerns whether the process was 1___, not whether the forecast proved exact. Those are related but not 2___ questions. The investigation asked whether the panel had considered relevant alternatives and represented its uncertainty accurately at the time.

   Choices for blank 1

   1. sounding
   2. soundly
   3. soundness
   4. sound

   Choices for blank 2

   1. distinct
   2. divergent
   3. separate
   4. identical
   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   sound

   Blank 2

   identical

   Sound describes a defensible process; related questions need not be identical.

4. Question 4 · Cloze (dropdown)

   Choose the correct option for each blank.

   Choose the best option for each gap: One specialist described several plausible dates rather than selecting an exact year unsupported by the surviving material. The specialist was careful to 1___ the range of uncertainty. A single precise figure would have conveyed 2___ confidence. That qualification preserved information about the weakness of the evidence instead of replacing it with a more impressive-looking numerical claim.

   Choices for blank 1

   1. deflect
   2. delineate
   3. dissipate
   4. delete

   Choices for blank 2

   1. warranted
   2. justified
   3. well-founded
   4. spurious
   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   delineate

   Blank 2

   spurious

   Delineate means describe boundaries clearly; spurious confidence lacks a sound basis.

5. Question 5 · Cloze (dropdown)

   Choose the correct option for each blank.

   Choose the best option for each gap: Some parts of the correspondence were missing, and the panel explained how that affected particular inferences. The committee made due 1___ for incomplete records. It did not treat that limitation as a 2___ excuse for any conclusion whatsoever. Recognising the gaps did not release an interpreter from the obligation to support whatever remained possible to establish.

   Choices for blank 1

   1. allowance
   2. allowed
   3. allow
   4. allowing

   Choices for blank 2

   1. narrow
   2. blanket
   3. circumscribed
   4. specific
   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   allowance

   Blank 2

   blanket

   Allowance for considers a limitation; a blanket excuse applies indiscriminately.

6. Question 6 · Cloze (dropdown)

   Choose the correct option for each blank.

   Choose the best option for each gap: The available evidence did not mechanically select a single attribution, so the specialists had to weigh the significance of several imperfect comparisons. Where the evidence is evenly balanced, judgement may be 1___. But arbitrariness does not follow 2___ the existence of discretion. The presence of judgement did not mean that reasons disappeared or that every decision would have been equally defensible.

   Choices for blank 1

   1. prohibited
   2. irrelevant
   3. excluded
   4. required

   Choices for blank 2

   1. to
   2. with
   3. at
   4. from
   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   required

   Blank 2

   from

   Required fits a need for judgement; follow from marks a purported inference.

7. Question 7 · Cloze (dropdown)

   Choose the correct option for each blank.

   Choose the best option for each gap: The final account stated openly where the dating remained uncertain and which further discoveries would matter most. The expert's account was candid about what remained 1___. That candour enhanced its credibility rather 2___ diminishing it. Readers could distinguish a limit acknowledged by the authors from a weakness concealed behind an appearance of complete confidence.

   Choices for blank 1

   1. conclusive
   2. unresolved
   3. proven
   4. settled

   Choices for blank 2

   1. to
   2. than
   3. as
   4. from
   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   unresolved

   Blank 2

   than

   Unresolved identifies open questions; rather than contrasts the actual and expected effect.

8. Question 8 · Cloze (dropdown)

   Choose the correct option for each blank.

   Choose the best option for each gap: The archive invited criticism of the attribution while asking critics to address the evidence and the actual reasoning used. Accountability requires decisions to be open 1___ challenge, without assuming that every challenge is well 2___. Allowing scrutiny did not oblige the institution to regard an unsupported allegation as equivalent to a carefully argued objection.

   Choices for blank 1

   1. with
   2. for
   3. to
   4. at

   Choices for blank 2

   1. found
   2. founding
   3. foundation
   4. founded
   Check answers and explanations

   Blank 1

   to

   Blank 2

   founded

   Open to challenge permits scrutiny; well founded means supported by good reasons.

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.