Speaking in Code

C2 Proficiency · Open Cloze · Cambridge Ready original exercise

For questions 1–8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning.

Every profession has (0) ___ own vocabulary. Doctors, lawyers and engineers all rely on specialist terms that would leave an outsider (1) ___ a loss, and within the trade such terms serve a genuine purpose, allowing colleagues to communicate with a precision that everyday language cannot always match. The problem arises when jargon is used not to clarify but to impress, or, worse, to exclude. Phrases (2) ___ as 'leveraging core synergies' convey little beyond a wish to sound important, and listeners are often too embarrassed to admit that they cannot make head (3) ___ tail of what is being said. Jargon also has a way of seeping into everyday speech, (4) ___ which point it ceases to be jargon and becomes merely cliché. Plain language is not always easy to achieve, of course. It takes considerable skill to explain a complex idea (5) ___ recourse to technical terms, and many experts have long (6) ___ forgotten what it was like not to know. Yet the effort is worth making. A writer who can be understood by everyone, (7) ___ than just a handful of insiders, stands a far better chance (8) ___ having their ideas taken up.

Speaking in Code

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