SSC CGL Tier 1 2013 English Comprehension Questions with Solutions

Explanation

The subject The US refers to a single country and requires the singular verb doesn't instead of the plural don't. This is a standard subject-verb agreement error.

Explanation

The verb make is a causative verb. When used in the active voice, it follows the structure: make + object + bare infinitive (the base form of the verb without to). In this sentence, the infinitive to do follows the object her step daughter, which violates this grammatical rule. The correct construction requires removing the preposition to, making the phrase her step daughter do all the household chores. This rule distinguishes make from other causative verbs like force or allow, which do require the to-infinitive.

Explanation

The error lies in the use of the adverb newly to modify the noun phrase lunch bar. In English grammar, adverbs are used to modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, whereas nouns must be modified by adjectives. To correctly describe the lunch bar, the adjective new should be used. Alternatively, the adverb newly could only be used if it were modifying an adjective within a compound phrase, such as at the newly opened lunch bar. Since it stands alone before the noun, it is grammatically incorrect.

Explanation

The expression at first sight is a standard idiomatic phrase in English used to describe an initial impression or a quick look before a more detailed examination is made. In the context of the sentence, it serves to contrast the superficial appearance of the people, who initially seemed well, with the deeper reality of their despair that becomes apparent only upon closer inspection. This idiom effectively conveys the sense of an immediate perception that may be contradicted or refined by further observation.

Explanation

The verb assure follows a fixed prepositional pattern where one assures someone of something. This idiomatic construction is used to indicate the specific matter or object about which a guarantee or certainty is being given. In the passive voice structure of this sentence, the subject receives the assurance regarding future assistance, necessitating the use of the preposition of to connect the verb to the promised help. This usage ensures the sentence correctly conveys that the friends provided a formal promise or guarantee regarding their support during an emergency.

Explanation

The sentence employs a nominative absolute construction, where the noun phrase the work functions as a subject for the participle phrase that follows. Since work is the receiver of the action rather than the doer, the passive voice is required. The perfect participle in its passive form, having been completed, correctly indicates that the action of completing the work was finished before the subsequent action of leaving the office took place.

Explanation

The phrasal verb shot up means to increase rapidly, suddenly, or by a large amount. In the context of financial costs, prices, or expenditures, it is the standard idiomatic expression used to describe a sharp rise in spending. The sentence indicates that the decision to purchase milk from a milkman caused an immediate and specific increase of five hundred rupees in the monthly budget, which is best captured by this term.

Explanation

The phrase devoid of is a fixed idiomatic expression in English meaning entirely lacking or free from. It is commonly used to describe the absence of an abstract quality, such as intelligence, emotion, or hope. When used in this context, the adjective devoid is always followed by the preposition of to modify the preceding noun, identifying the specific attribute that is missing or, in the case of this negative sentence, present.

Explanation

The word collate means to collect, gather, or arrange in a specific order. In the context of the sentence, where the principal asks students to come together for a program, it implies the act of gathering or bringing individuals into one place. This directly matches the meaning of assemble, which refers to people congregating or being brought together for a common purpose.

Explanation

The word advocate, when used as a verb, means to publicly recommend or speak in favor of a particular policy, cause, or course of action. It involves providing active backing or encouragement for an idea, proposal, or person. This aligns perfectly with the meaning of support, which refers to the act of giving assistance, approval, or encouragement to someone or something. In various contexts, such as legal proceedings or social activism, an advocate is someone who supports and champions the interests or rights of others.

Explanation

The word preamble refers to a preliminary or preparatory statement that serves as an opening to a formal document, speech, or piece of writing. Its primary function is to provide an introductory explanation of the purpose, intent, and underlying philosophy of the text that follows, such as in the Preamble to the Constitution. Etymologically derived from the Latin praeambulus, meaning walking before, it acts as an introduction that sets the stage for the main content.

Explanation

The word wary describes someone who is cautious, alert, and mindful of potential dangers or problems before taking action. In contrast, the word rash refers to acting or proceeding without due consideration or care for the consequences. Because wary signifies a high degree of caution and rash signifies a complete lack of it, they are antonyms.

Explanation

The word ambiguous describes something that is unclear, vague, or open to more than one interpretation. It is derived from the Latin term ambigere, meaning to wander or be undecided. In contrast, the word clear signifies something that is easy to perceive, understand, or interpret without any doubt. Because clarity represents the absence of multiple meanings or obscurity, it serves as the direct antonym to ambiguity.

Explanation

An accolade is an expression of praise, an award, or a formal honor given to someone in recognition of their merit or achievements. The word blame acts as its opposite because it signifies the act of censuring, finding fault, or holding someone responsible for a failure or wrongdoing, which directly contradicts the concept of honoring or commending someone.

Explanation

The idiom to play second fiddle originates from the seating and performance hierarchy of an orchestra. The first fiddle, or lead violinist, is the most prominent player who often carries the melody, while the second violinist plays a supporting and less prominent part. In general usage, the phrase describes a situation where a person occupies a position of lesser importance or influence compared to someone else, thereby accepting a subordinate role in a project, relationship, or organization.

Explanation

The idiom face the music means to accept the unpleasant consequences or the results of one's own actions, especially to receive criticism or punishment for something wrong that has been done. It implies a situation where an individual must confront a difficult reality or person and take responsibility for their mistakes rather than avoiding them. In the given sentence, because Mary broke the window, she was required to deal with her father's anger and the resulting penalty when he arrived home. The expression is often used in contexts where a person has no choice but to endure the inevitable reprimand following a lapse in judgment or an accident.

Explanation

The idiom to call a spade a spade means to speak plainly and directly about something, even if it is unpleasant, blunt, or embarrassing. It signifies a straightforward manner of communication where a person describes things as they truly are, avoiding the use of euphemisms or indirect language to soften the truth. In the given sentence, it implies that villagers are candid and honest in their speech, preferring to be frank rather than beating around the bush.

Explanation

The idiom out of one's wits, similar to at one's wits' end, describes a state of being extremely worried, overwhelmed, or perplexed to the point where one can no longer think clearly or decide what to do. In the context of the sentence, the speaker is in a state of mental agitation or exhaustion regarding a problem, which results in being greatly confused and unable to reach a solution immediately. This phrase typically implies that a person's cognitive resources are temporarily paralyzed by stress or the complexity of a situation.

Explanation

The idiom jump down someone's throat means to react to someone with sudden and excessive anger or to criticize them severely and abruptly. It suggests a verbal attack where the speaker is being yelled at or scolded, often unexpectedly or for a minor reason. In the context of the sentence, the speaker is defending themselves against an aggressive verbal reaction or blame for an incident that occurred in their absence, which aligns with the meaning of being scolded.

Explanation

The conjunction since is used to indicate the starting point of a period of time that continues up to the present. In sentences using the present perfect tense or perfect modals like may have grown, since is required to show that the growth occurred during the interval between the last meeting and the current moment. Using since establishes the necessary temporal link between a specific past event and the present state of the subject.

Explanation

The phrasal verb knock down is the appropriate term used when a person is struck by a vehicle and falls to the ground. In the context of a child being hit by a car while crossing a highway, knocked down accurately describes the physical impact and the resulting accident. The original phrase knocked out typically refers to rendering someone unconscious, often in a boxing match or a fight, which does not fit the standard description of a vehicular collision involving a pedestrian as effectively as the term used for being hit and leveled by a moving object.

Explanation

The phrase look forward to is a phrasal verb where to functions as a preposition rather than a part of an infinitive. In English grammar, a preposition must be followed by a noun, a pronoun, or a gerund (the -ing form of a verb acting as a noun). Consequently, the verb see must be converted into the gerund seeing to correctly follow the prepositional to, making looking forward to seeing the grammatically accurate construction.

Explanation

The sentence employs the preposition since followed by a specific time reference, morning, to denote an action that commenced in the past and persists into the present. According to the rules of English grammar, when describing an ongoing action that has a defined starting point in the past, the Present Perfect Continuous tense is required. The construction for this tense consists of have been or has been plus the present participle of the main verb. Given that the subject, clients, is plural, the form have been waiting correctly identifies the duration and continuity of the action leading up to the present time.

Explanation

The idiom hell-bent on is a fixed expression used to describe someone who is determined to achieve something at all costs, often recklessly. In English grammar, certain idiomatic phrases require specific prepositions to be used correctly. The phrase hell-bent is conventionally followed by the preposition on or upon, followed by a gerund or a noun. Between the available choices, hell-bent on getting follows standard idiomatic usage, whereas the preposition at is grammatically incorrect in this specific context.

Explanation

The phrasal verb touch upon means to mention or deal with a subject briefly or incidentally during a speech, discussion, or piece of writing. In the context of a long discourse, where multiple topics are covered, touch upon is the idiomatically correct expression to indicate that a specific point was addressed or referenced. While the verb touch primarily refers to physical contact, touch upon specifically refers to the act of addressing a topic or theme in a verbal or written communication.

Explanation

In English grammar, when a question is embedded within a larger sentence as a subordinate clause, it is known as an indirect question. Unlike direct questions, indirect questions do not use interrogative word order. While a direct question uses the inversion of the auxiliary verb and the subject, such as Why did he not eat?, an indirect question must follow the assertive word order of Subject + Verb. Therefore, the phrase must be structured as why he did not eat to function correctly as a noun clause acting as the object of the verb tell. This transformation removes the auxiliary inversion to maintain the declarative structure of the overall sentence.

Explanation

The sentence follows the logic of a conditional construction where a future result depends on a specific action. In such structures, the subordinate clause that defines the subject or the condition—in this case, the relative clause starting with "who"—uses the simple present tense even though the main verb "will get" is in the future tense. Using "bids" instead of "will bid" correctly establishes the prerequisite condition for the subsequent future event. This follows the standard grammatical principle where the simple present is used in time or conditional clauses to refer to future possibilities.

Explanation

The sentence follows the structure of a first conditional, which is used to express a real or possible situation in the present or future. The standard grammatical pattern for this type of conditional consists of an if-clause in the simple present tense followed by a main clause with will and the base form of the verb. In the given sentence, the main clause will call you indicates a future possibility, necessitating the use of the simple present tense verb has in the subordinate clause to maintain tense consistency and logical flow.

Explanation

The sequence of tenses in English grammar requires that if a subordinate clause uses a present tense, such as the present perfect hasn't done, the main reporting verb should also be in the present tense. The presence of the adverb yet indicates that the situation persists up to the current moment. Therefore, the present tense tells is the logically and grammatically correct choice to introduce a statement about a current state of affairs, ensuring that the reporting action aligns temporally with the present perfect state of the task not being completed.

Explanation

Amnesty is a formal act by a sovereign power or government that grants a general pardon to a large group of people, typically those who have committed political offenses such as rebellion, treason, or desertion. Derived from the Greek word amnestia, meaning forgetfulness, it serves as a legal method to officially overlook past crimes and restore the offenders to the legal status of innocent persons. It is frequently employed as a tool for national reconciliation or to resolve civil conflicts by providing a clean slate to entire classes of individuals before or after they have been prosecuted.

Explanation

The term misogynist is derived from the Greek roots miso, meaning hatred, and gyne, meaning woman. Therefore, a misogynist is a person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women. This word is specifically used in English to describe the character trait or belief system of someone who harbors such feelings of animosity or contempt toward the female gender.

Explanation

The word incorrigible is derived from the Latin roots in- meaning not and corrigere meaning to correct. It is used to describe a person whose bad habits, behavior, or character traits are so firmly established that they cannot be reformed, changed, or improved through any form of correction or punishment. In linguistic usage, this term specifically denotes an individual who is beyond the point of being set right or corrected.

Explanation

The term truant refers to a student who stays away from school without leave or permission. It is specifically used to describe a schoolchild who habitually cuts classes or avoids their educational duties without a valid excuse. The state of being a truant is known as truancy, which involves the intentional and unauthorized absence from compulsory schooling.

Explanation

An itinerary is a formal and detailed plan or route for a journey. It typically includes a sequence of destinations, travel dates, specific times for departures and arrivals, and a list of planned activities or accommodations. It serves as a comprehensive logistical guide for travelers to manage the flow of their trip efficiently.

Explanation

Plagiarism is the act of taking someone else's work, ideas, thoughts, or expressions and presenting them as one's own original work. It is considered a form of intellectual theft and a serious breach of ethics in academic, literary, and artistic fields. By failing to provide proper credit or attribution to the original creator, the person committing plagiarism misleads the audience regarding the true source of the material.

Explanation

A cannibal is a person who practices the act of eating the flesh of their own species, specifically human beings in this context. The term is derived from the Spanish word Canibal, which was used by early explorers to describe certain indigenous groups in the West Indies who were believed to consume human flesh. In anthropology and biology, it refers to the consumption of one individual by another of the same species.

Explanation

The word equipped is the past participle of the verb equip, which means to supply or provide with necessary items for a particular purpose. According to the doubling rule in English orthography, when a verb ends in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel and the stress falls on the final syllable, the final consonant is doubled before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel, such as -ed or -ing. In the word equip, the stress is on the second syllable and the final consonant p is preceded by the vowel i. The u after q functions as part of the consonant sound /kw/ rather than a separate vowel. Consequently, the letter p is doubled, making equipped the correct spelling.

Explanation

Foreign is the correct spelling of the adjective used to describe something that comes from or is characteristic of a country other than one's own. The word is derived from the Old French word forain and the Medieval Latin foraneus, meaning on the outside. In English, the spelling follows the sequence f-o-r-e-i-g-n, featuring a silent g before the n and the letter e preceding the i, which serves as a common exception to the standard i before e mnemonic.

Explanation

The term specialised in the context of the World Health Organisation refers to its role as a technical body with profound knowledge and professional skill in the field of public health. As an agency of the United Nations, the WHO operates with a high degree of technical authority, providing evidence-based leadership and setting global health standards. This designation signifies that the organization is composed of professionals who possess the specific skills and scientific training necessary to manage international health challenges. Consequently, the agency functions as an expert authority dedicated to improving health outcomes and managing disease control across the globe.

Explanation

The passage identifies two specific methods as illustrations of how total prevention of diseases is possible. The first illustration mentioned is the vaccination of people, particularly children, against various diseases. The second illustration provided is the spraying of houses with poisonous substances to eliminate disease-carrying insects. These two distinct examples directly support the author's statement regarding the ways in which disease prevention is achieved.

Explanation

The term international refers to activities, relations, or entities that involve two or more nations. In the context of the passage, the health workers are representatives of the World Health Organisation, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations. Since the organisation is comprised of various member states and operates across national boundaries to coordinate global health efforts, its personnel are described as international because they belong to an entity that functions through the involvement and cooperation of different nations.

Explanation

The sentence uses the correlative conjunction not only... but also, which is employed to connect two related ideas and emphasize that both are true. In this specific context, it links the task of controlling diseases with the task of preventing them. This grammatical structure indicates that the World Health Organisation does not limit its assistance to just one aspect of health management; rather, it provides support for both the containment of existing diseases and the proactive measures required to stop them from occurring in the first place. Therefore, the statement directly implies that W.H.O. provides comprehensive assistance covering both disease control and prevention strategies to national health authorities.

Explanation

In the provided passage, the third sentence introduces international health workers as the primary subject who can be seen working in various environments such as deserts, jungles, and rice fields. The subsequent sentence begins with the pronoun they, which grammatically functions as a referent to the plural noun phrase international health workers established in the preceding sentence. These workers represent the global health team mentioned later in the text who actively assist local authorities in disease control and prevention.

Explanation

The author explicitly states that he considers the telephone a pest and a time-waster because of the psychological stress it imposes. He explains that the device can create unnecessary suspense and anxiety, particularly in situations where one is waiting for an expected call that never arrives. This negative emotional impact is one of the primary reasons he chooses not to have a telephone, as he finds the device more of an intrusion than a utility.

Explanation

The phrase uses a metaphorical description to convey psychological discomfort rather than a literal drop in temperature. In the context of the passage, the author describes the experience of using a public telephone booth while someone else is waiting outside. The presence of a person moving restlessly and staring impatiently creates a sense of pressure and social anxiety for the speaker. This feeling of being watched by an impatient individual who wants to use the facility makes the speaker feel uneasy and rushed, which is figuratively described as having one's back chilled by cold looks.

Explanation

The author's statement that all telephone numbers are wrong numbers is a hyperbolic expression of his total disdain for the device as an instrument of intrusion. Throughout the passage, he characterizes the telephone as a pest and a time-waster that disrupts his privacy during essential activities like sleeping, eating, and bathing. By asserting that every number is a wrong number, the author is not making a literal claim about dialing errors or technical failures; rather, he is suggesting that any call received is an unwelcome interruption of his peace. Because the telephone is an unnecessary nuisance in his view, no call can ever be the right call, making the concept of a correct number irrelevant to his lifestyle. None of the other options provide a reason that captures this specific philosophical and cynical rejection of the telephone's role in personal life.

Explanation

The expression is an idiomatic way of suggesting that a current situation or event is of little importance in the long run. In the context of the passage, the author uses this phrase to encourage a sense of detachment from the perceived urgency of a ringing telephone. It implies that the consequences of not answering the call are negligible and will have no lasting impact on one's life or the world over a great span of time. Therefore, the phrase serves as a mental tool for the strong-minded to ignore the interruption, asserting that the world will continue on its course regardless of whether that specific phone call is ever completed.

Explanation

The author describes the experience of using a public telephone booth as horrible primarily due to the oppressive physical environment inside the enclosure. According to the passage, once a caller enters the booth, they are half suffocated by stale and unventilated air. This unpleasant atmosphere is further tainted by the lingering scents of cheap face-powder and chain smoking from previous occupants, making the confined space physically repulsive to the speaker.

Explanation

The error lies in the use of the singular noun woman in the phrase working woman lead. In English grammar, the subject must agree in number with its verb and subsequent pronouns. Since the verb lead is in its plural form and the sentence later uses the plural pronouns they and have to refer back to the subject, the singular noun woman must be changed to the plural women. Changing the subject to working women ensures grammatical consistency across the entire sentence.

Explanation

The error in the first part of the sentence involves the incorrect use of the adverb greatly to modify a prepositional phrase. In standard English, when expressing a reaction of this type, an adjective is used to modify the noun surprise. The correct idiomatic construction is To our great surprise, where the adjective great qualifies the noun surprise. Alternatively, the expression Much to our surprise is acceptable. Adverbs of degree like greatly typically modify verbs or adjectives rather than the head of a prepositional phrase in this specific context.