C2 Proficiency - Multiple Choice Cloze

2. There is too much weight on that table. It won't ____________ for much longer.
a. restrain
b. refuse
c. resist
d. reject

If a student chooses an answer because he/she likes the sound of it, they should stick to it. English loves alliteration so there are many examples where the first letters in an expression are the same:

the coast is clear
it's a cheap and cheerful restaurant
he's a strong, silent type

There are also many poetic expressions in English. Which sounds better out of these:

time flies
time goes
time runs

The rhyme in the first one creates a better, more poetic effect and if a student really doesn't know which to choose between two or more answers, get them to think about either alliteration or poetry.

Tell your students not to go changing all the answers at the end. Research shows that students are more likely to change a correct answer into a wrong answer than the other way around. Students will often pick an answer based on its "feel" or their instinct, based for example on the sounds we were talking about above. These "guesses" should be left as they are!