CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH / ADVANCED / CAE / USE OF ENGLISH / open Cloze

For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap.

Electronic Clerks
 

The word computer is a misleading name (1) ... the ubiquitous machine that sits on our desks. If we go (2) ... to the Victorian period, or even the World War II era, the word meant an occupation, defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "one who computes; a calculator, reckoner; specifically a person employed to make calculations in an observatory, in surveying, etc."
In (3) ..., although modern computer can work with numbers, (4) ... main use is for storing and manipulating information, (5) ... is, for doing the kinds of jobs performed by a clerk--defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (6) ... "one employed in a subordinate position in a public or private office, shop, warehouse, etc., to make written entries, (7) ... accounts, make fair copies of documents, do the mechanical work of correspondence and similar 'clerkly' work." The electronic computer (8) ... be said to combine the roles of the human computer and the human clerk.

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[answer="for"]

[answer="back"] [answer="fact"] ! [answer="its"][answer="that"][answer="as"][answer="keep"]

[answer="can"]

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answer keys

 

1)    FOR
NOUN + PREPOSITION NAME FOR
A word or words that a particular person, animal, place or thing is known by: 
Rubella is just another name for German measles. 

 
2)    BACK
PHRASAL VERB GO BACK
To have existed for a particular amount of time or since a particular period :
These ruins go back hundreds of years.

 
3)    FACT
IDIOM IN FACT
Used when you are adding something, especially something surprising, to emphasize what you have just said:
He was paid money for a job that did not in fact exist. 

 
4)    ITS
POSSESSIVE DETERMINER ITS
Belonging to or associated with a thing previously mentioned or easily identified:
The baby threw its food on the floor.

 
5)    THAT
IDIOM THAT IS
Used to say what something means or to give more information:
He's a local government administrator, that is to say a civil servant.

 
6)    AS
VERB + PREPOSITION DEFINE STH AS STH
To explain the meaning of a word :
Manual work is broadly defined as work that you do with your hands.

 
7)    KEEP
COLLOCATION KEEP ACCOUNTS
Keep an exact record of the money that a company has received and the money it has spent:
Here he shares his top tips for keeping your accounts in order. 

8)    CAN
MODAL VERB CAN
used to say that it is possible for somebody/something to do something, or for something to happen:
The stadium can be emptied in four minutes.