PTE Fill in the Blanks Practice Question: Teamwork

Listen and type the missing words.

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Teamwork can also lead to , a common cause of poor sales. In the case of a smartphone that a certain company , one director wanted to target the business market, and another demanded it was at consumers. The company wanted both directors to be , so it gave the product a consumer-friendly name, but marketed it to companies. The result was that it met the needs of neither group. It would have been better to let one director or the other have his way, not both. Now , or hard work. It's easy to people who say they work hard.

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Question, answer and explanation

Teamwork can also lead to [blank 1] , a common cause of poor sales. In the case of a smartphone that a certain company [blank 2] , one director wanted to target the business market, and another demanded it was [blank 3] at consumers. The company wanted both directors to be [blank 4] , so it gave the product a consumer-friendly name, but marketed it to companies. The result was that it met the needs of neither group. It would have been better to let one director or the other have his way, not both. Now [blank 5] , or hard work. It's easy to [blank 6] people who say they work hard.

Show answer and explanation

Answer: 1. inconsistency, 2. launched, 3. aimed, 4. involved, 5. industriousness, 6. mock

Explanation: This recording contrasts a failed product launch with a lesson about hard work, so track which noun or adjective the surrounding sentence structure calls for. Blank 1: inconsistency — The noun follows "lead to" and is defined by the rest of the sentence: "a common cause of poor sales". Blank 2: launched — The verb follows "a certain company" and needs the past simple to match the story's timeframe, meaning the company released the product. Blank 3: aimed — The past participle follows "it was", forming the passive to say the director wanted the product directed "at consumers". Blank 4: involved — The past participle follows "to be" and describes both directors being included in the decision, so the product satisfied neither. Blank 5: industriousness — The noun follows "Now" and is defined right after by "or hard work", so it names the quality of working hard. Blank 6: mock — The bare infinitive follows "to" and describes what people easily do to those who claim to work hard.