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IELTS Reading: Matching sentence endings

Each question is the first half of a sentence, and you choose its ending from a list containing more options than you need. Two things decide it, and one of them is not comprehension: grammar eliminates, meaning confirms.

Use grammar first

Read the sentence beginning and ask what could grammatically follow it. A beginning ending in "because" needs a clause; one ending in a preposition needs a noun; a singular subject rules out an ending with a plural verb. On a typical set this removes half the options before you have read a word of the passage.

  • Check subject–verb agreement between the two halves.
  • Check that any pronoun in the ending has something to refer back to.
  • Read the joined sentence aloud in your head — a wrong ending usually sounds wrong.

Then confirm against the passage

Grammar narrows it; only the passage decides it. These run in passage order, so having answered question 14 you are looking after that point for question 15. A completed sentence that reads perfectly and is not supported by the text is the wrong answer, and it is the one the examiners wrote for you to pick.

Matching sentence endings — FAQs

2 questions

Yes, so an unused ending at the end is expected rather than a sign of error.

Yes, which is the main practical difference from Matching features.

Practise Matching sentence endings

4 free IELTS reading questions, with an explanation on every answer. No sign-up — the scorecard is offered at the end, and only then.

Start the reading drill

More reading question types

Matching headings Pick the heading that fits each paragraph True / False / Not Given Does the passage state this fact? Yes / No / Not Given Does the writer think this? Matching information Which paragraph contains this? Matching features Link statements to people, places or dates Multiple choice One answer, or several, from a list Sentence completion Fill the gap in the words of the passage Summary completion Fill a summary, with or without a word list Diagram labelling Label a diagram from the text Short-answer questions Answer in a few words from the text

Sources

Written from the test board's own published material and checked on 1 October 2026.

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