Complete the text with a suitable word in each gap

  • Complete the text with a suitable word in each gap. Use only one word in each gap. In some cases, more than one word is possible. The 0 is done for you.
    The DIY downturn.

    The British have long (0) been advocates of DIY. After all, why get someone else (1) __________ do a chore when you can complete the task yourself?! (2) __________ only are we able to get on with things like basic car maintenance and gardening, but home decoration and minor repairs are also relatively straightforward jobs that most of us attend to without repercussions. While it’s tempting to have a go yourself when you can’t (3) __________ a light to work or the top branches of a tree need cutting down, once we get onto electrical work and structural repairs or things like tree surgery, evidence suggests we’d (4) __________ better off leaving it to the experts than taking it into our own hands.
    However, surveys have demonstrated a recent turndown in DIY in the UK, with fewer and fewer people even owning tools (one survey reports a figure of 71% (5) __________ British men not owning tools), let alone knowing how to put them to good use, as they (6) __________ have in the past. There is even some evidence to suggest that less DIY is now (7) __________ done by men,
    while women are doing more, and a wealth of DIY clubs professing to help those of us who can’t even change a light bulb (8) __________ springing up everywhere. Reasons for the downturn could be attributed to the fact that younger people may (9) __________ been put off attempting jobs at home due to knowledge of strict health and safety regulations outside it. In addition, many people struggle even to buy a house, never mind have one to fix, and it doesn’t look like things (10) __________ change in the near future, either.