Summary completion exercises in the reading part of the IELTS exam require that candidates know what WORD CLASS (or part of speech) is missing from the gaps.

If your students struggle with this, give them a set of exercises to raise their awareness of this important SUB-SKILL, as follows.

EXERCISE 1

“Discuss what parts of speech options A-K can belong to (e.g. ‘want’: verb and noun)”.

A) want

B) producing

C) goods

D) pay

E) wants

F) spending

G) budget

H) markets

I) good

J) produce

H) market

EXERCISE 2

“Look at the summary below. What type of word is missing from each gap (noun, verb, adjective)? How do you know?”

EXERCISE 3

“Complete the summary using the list of words A-K”.

Economics seeks to solve the problem of scarcity, which happens when human (1) _____ for (2) _____ and services exceed the available supply. A really (3) _____ economy displays a division of labor, in which people earn income by specializing in what they produce and then use that income to purchase the products or (4) _____ they (5) _____. The division of labor allows individuals and firms to specialize, which leads to their (6) _____ more for several reasons. First, it allows the agents to focus on areas of advantage due to natural factors and skill levels. Second, it encourages the agents to learn and invent. Third, it allows agents to take advantage of economies of scale when they set out to (7) _____ their ready-made products. Division and specialization of labor only work when individuals can purchase what they do not produce on the different (8) _____ of the world.

(ANSWER KEY:

EXERCISE 1

A) want: verb, noun

B) producing: verb

C) goods: noun

D) pay: verb, noun

E) wants: verb, noun

F) spending: verb, noun

G) budget: verb, noun

H) markets: verb, noun

I) good: adjective

J) produce: verb, noun

K) market: verb, noun

EXERCISE 2

Students’ own answers

EXERCISE 3

1) E

2) C

3) I

4) J

5) A

6) B

7) K

8) H)

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