A Matter of Manners

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.

It is hard to imagine a dinner table without forks, yet for much of history people managed perfectly well (0) ___ them. Food was speared with the point of a knife or simply eaten (1) ___ hand. When forks first appeared at European tables, they were regarded (2) ___ considerable suspicion. To many diners they seemed an affectation, a sign of excessive refinement (3) ___ than good manners, and it took a long time for the fork to shake (4) ___ its reputation for pretension. It took longer still for it to be taken (5) ___ granted. Early forks had just two prongs, which were fine for holding meat steady while it was cut but hopeless (6) ___ it came to anything small or soft. Only after a third and a fourth prong had been added (7) ___ the fork become the versatile tool we know today. Even now, table habits are far from uniform. Diners in some countries keep the fork in the left hand throughout the meal, a habit that strikes others (8) ___ oddly formal. The humble fork, it seems, still has the power to reveal where we were brought up.

A Matter of Manners

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

More C2 Proficiency Open Cloze practice · All C2 Proficiency practice