Matching Sentence Endings

1. Understanding the Task

This question type looks like a puzzle. You have the beginning of a sentence, and you need to find its other half from a list of options. Here are the key characteristics:

• Order is important: The sentence beginnings (the questions) appear in the same order as the information in the passage. This is a huge help!
• More endings than beginnings: There will always be extra sentence endings that you don't need to use. This means you have to choose carefully.
• Grammar is a clue: The completed sentence must be grammatically correct. Sometimes, you can eliminate an ending simply because it doesn't form a correct sentence.

To start, let's get a clear overview of this question type and a solid strategy for approaching it.

2. A Step-by-Step Strategy

As you saw in the video, having a clear method is essential. Let's summarize and reinforce that strategy. The most common mistake learners make is trying to read all the endings and match them by pure logic, without carefully checking the text.

Based on the video and the article, here is our core strategy:

1. Read the incomplete sentences first. Ignore the list of endings for now. Understand the meaning of each sentence beginning and underline keywords (names, dates, places, technical terms).
2. Focus on the first incomplete sentence. Scan the text from the beginning to find the section that discusses the keywords you identified. Remember, the answers are in order.
3. Read the relevant text carefully. Once you find the right area in the passage, read it closely to understand the main point.
4. Now, look at the list of endings.
   • Eliminate any endings that are clearly wrong based on the text.
   • Eliminate any endings that create a grammatically incorrect sentence.
   • Choose the ending that best matches the meaning of what you read in the text.
5. Cross off the ending you used and move to the next incomplete sentence. Repeat the process.

3. Avoiding Common Traps

The IELTS test is designed to trick you if you're not paying attention. One of the biggest traps in this question type is matching words instead of meaning.

Let's watch the next part of the video from IELTS with Juva, where she explains how to identify and avoid these traps, especially those involving paraphrasing.

4. Your Turn to Practice

Now it's time to apply the strategy yourself. You will read a short passage about NASA's Orion space capsule and answer five sentence ending questions.

Remember the strategy:

1. Read Question 1 ("The first ever flight of Orion is aimed to…"). Underline keywords like "first ever flight".
2. Scan the passage for those keywords or their paraphrases (e.g., "maiden flight").
3. Read that part of the text carefully.
4. Look at the endings (A-G) and choose the one that matches the meaning and is grammatically correct.
5. Move on to Question 2.

When you have finished, click below to see the answers and detailed explanations.

Conclusion

Excellent work today! You have learned a reliable strategy for one of the trickier question types in the IELTS Reading test. By combining careful reading, keyword scanning, and an awareness of grammar, you can solve these questions efficiently and accurately.

Key Takeaways:

• Follow the Order: Always use the fact that the sentence beginnings are in order in the text to guide you.
• Start with the Question, Not the Endings: Focus on one incomplete sentence at a time to avoid confusion.
• Grammar is Your Friend: Use grammar to quickly eliminate endings that don't fit.
• Match Meaning, Not Words: Be very careful of "traps" where the words are the same but the meaning is different. The correct answer is often a paraphrase.

In our next lesson, we will move on to another fundamental IELTS Reading question type: True/False/Not Given and Yes/No/Not Given questions. This will test your ability to determine if a statement is supported, contradicted, or not mentioned at all in the passage.