The Vanishing Hand

C2 Proficiency · Multiple Choice Cloze · Cambridge Ready original exercise

For questions 1–8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning.

give

pay

offer

show

paper

page

sheet

script

decease

expiry

demise

expiration

tastes

flavours

seasons

smacks

drown

sink

dip

fall

literally

verbally

literate

verbatim

emergency

urgency

insistence

exigency

lift

raise

carry

wield

In an age of keyboards and touchscreens, handwriting is (0) ___ becoming a lost art. Many schools now (1) ___ joined-up writing short shrift, and a generation of adults has grown up rarely putting pen to (2) ___ except to sign their name. Should we mourn its (3) ___ ? Some argue that handwriting is no more than an outdated technology, and that clinging to it (4) ___ of sentimentality. Others point to research suggesting that forming letters by hand helps new information to (5) ___ in more effectively than typing does. Students who take notes on paper, for instance, tend to retain information better, since they are forced to summarise rather than transcribe (6) ___ . There is a cultural dimension, too. Letters and diaries written by hand reveal something of their author that a typed page cannot: the (7) ___ of a hurried line, the crossings-out, the flourish of a signature. Whether such qualities will (8) ___ much weight in a digital world, however, remains an open question.

The Vanishing Hand

fast

quick

rapid

swift

Available as a free printable PDF worksheet with an optional answer key.

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