SSC CHSL Tier 1 2013 English Comprehension Questions with Solutions

Explanation

The noun binoculars is a plurale tantum noun, which means it only exists in the plural form because the instrument consists of two optical tubes. Similar to other paired items like glasses, scissors, and trousers, it must always end with an s. Therefore, the singular form binocular is grammatically incorrect in this context and must be replaced with the plural form binoculars to make the phrase a pair of binoculars.

Explanation

Proper nouns generally do not take articles. However, when a proper noun is used as a common noun to designate a person who has the qualities of a famous personality, and is qualified by a descriptive phrase like "of India", the definite article "the" must be used instead of the indefinite article "a". Therefore, "a Shakespeare" is grammatically incorrect and should be replaced with "the Shakespeare" to make the correct sentence "Kalidas is the Shakespeare of India."

Explanation

The pronoun all in part B is redundant because the subjects of the sentence are already fully introduced and connected by the phrase as well as. Using all alongside as well as in this structure creates grammatical redundancy. The correct sentence is The teacher as well as his students left for the trip.

Explanation

In parallel comparative structures that show a proportional relationship, both clauses must begin with the definite article "the" followed by a comparative modifier. The correct structure is "The more..., the worse...". Therefore, the phrase "More you" is grammatically incorrect and must be corrected to "The more you" to maintain structural parallelism.

Explanation

The correct word to fill in the blank is "safeguards" because "built-in safeguards against" is a standard idiomatic expression that metaphorically describes the mind's natural resistance or protective mechanisms against entertaining new or original thoughts.

Explanation

The phrase "as well as of a" maintains grammatical parallelism in the sentence. It correctly links two parallel prepositional phrases, "of a family" and "of a nation", which both modify the noun "future". This structure is necessary to show that a child represents the future of both distinct entities.

Explanation

The verb avert means to prevent an undesirable occurrence, danger, or disaster from happening. In the context of a tragedy, it is the most idiomatic and precise word choice to signify that the proactive implementation of strict security measures would have successfully prevented the unfortunate event from occurring.

Explanation

The phrasal verb leave behind is used to refer to the family, dependents, or property that remain after a person has died. In this context, the past tense left behind correctly expresses that the deceased person was survived by two young children at the time of their death.

Explanation

The phrasal verb stands as is used to denote that something exists in a particular role, serves as, or represents a specific symbol. In this context, the statue functions as or represents a global symbol of freedom, making stands as the grammatically appropriate choice to express this symbolic representation.

Explanation

The word wily is an adjective used to describe someone who is skilled at gaining an advantage, especially through deceit, trickery, or cleverness. It is synonymous with being crafty, sly, artful, or cunning.

Explanation

The word temerity means excessive confidence, boldness, or rashness. It refers to a willingness to do or say something that is shockingly bold, daring, or disrespectful. Audacity is a direct synonym that similarly means a willingness to take bold risks or behave in an impudent, daring manner. Both words describe an action or attitude that displays a lack of caution, respect, or disregard for danger and social norms.

Explanation

The word insipid is used to describe food or drink that lacks strong taste, character, or flavor, rendering it bland and tasteless. The direct antonym of a word denoting tastelessness is one that describes something full of flavor and highly pleasing to the palate, which is the definition of tasty.

Explanation

The word relinquish means to voluntarily cease to keep, give up, or abandon a claim, position, or course of action. Its opposite in meaning is to continue, which means to persist in an activity, maintain, or carry on with something rather than giving it up.

Explanation

The correct spelling of the word meaning an infection of the intestines marked by severe diarrhea with blood and mucus is dysentery. Derived from the Greek roots dys (bad or abnormal) and entera (bowels), the correct letter sequence requires an e in both the middle and pen-ultimate syllables, resulting in d-y-s-e-n-t-e-r-y.

Explanation

The correct spelling is rejuvenation, which refers to the action or process of making someone or something look or feel better, younger, or more vital. It is derived from the Latin prefix re- meaning again and the root word juvenis meaning young, combined with the noun-forming suffix -ation.

Explanation

The phrasal verb cordon off means to prevent people from entering or leaving a particular place by surrounding it with a barrier or police officers. This action effectively isolates the area from its surroundings to maintain security, preserve an accident or crime scene, and ensure public safety.

Explanation

The idiom "wet behind the ears" is used to describe someone who is young, naive, or lacking in experience. Its origin is an allusion to newly born farm animals, such as calves or colts, which are born wet and take some time to dry completely, with the indentation behind the ears being one of the last areas to dry. Therefore, in the context of a workplace, the idiom refers to a newcomer who is young and inexperienced.

Explanation

The idiom "keep an open house" means to be highly hospitable and to welcome all visitors, guests, or members into one's home, typically offering them food and entertainment, without requiring a formal invitation. This aligns with the context of the sentence, where Saturday evening parties host all kinds of people without restriction.

Explanation

The term alumnus refers to a graduate or former student of a particular school, college, or university. Derived from Latin, where it historically meant a foster son or pupil, it is the standard singular noun used to describe an individual who has completed their studies at an educational institution.

Explanation

A hangar is a large, closed building structure designed specifically to house aircraft for protective storage, maintenance, or repairs. These structures are typically located at airports, airfields, and military bases to shelter airplanes, helicopters, and other aerial vehicles from weather conditions and environmental elements.

Explanation

An anecdote is a short, interesting, or amusing story about a real person or incident, typically based on a person's actual personal experience or direct observation. It is usually told to make a point, entertain, or illustrate a particular characteristic or situation.

Explanation

The preposition "in" is used after the verb "joined" to indicate participation in a specific activity. In this context, the commoners took part with the king's army in the shared action of crushing the rebels, making "in" the grammatically correct and idiomatic preposition to connect the noun phrase to the gerund phrase.

Explanation

The phrase except for is used as a preposition to introduce an exception or a minor restriction to a general statement that is otherwise true. In this sentence, the general statement is that she is quite well now, and having a slight cold is the single exception to her state of health. Therefore, except for is the grammatically and idiomatically correct choice to link the noun phrase a slight cold to the rest of the sentence.

Explanation

The given active voice sentence is in the simple past tense. To convert a simple past tense sentence from active to passive voice, the grammatical structure used is: Subject + was/were + past participle (V₃) + by + object.

In the active sentence, the subject is She, the verb is took, and the object is the dog. In the passive voice, the dog becomes the subject. Since the dog is singular, it is followed by the auxiliary verb was and the past participle of take, which is taken. The original subject She converts to its objective pronoun form her preceded by by. This forms the passive sentence: The dog was taken for a walk by her.

Explanation

The given sentence is in the Active Voice and is structured in the simple past tense, as indicated by the verb filled. To convert a sentence from the Active Voice to the Passive Voice in the simple past tense, the standard grammatical structure is: Object + was/were + past participle of the main verb + by + Subject.

In this sentence, the plural object is the glasses, which requires the plural auxiliary verb were. The past participle form of filled is filled. Placing the agent at the end with by gives: The glasses were filled with water by the waiter.

Explanation

The active voice sentence is in the simple future tense, following the structure: Subject + will + base verb + preposition + Object. To convert this into the passive voice, the structure changes to: Object (as the new subject) + will + be + past participle of the verb + preposition + by + Subject (as the agent). Applying this rule, "They" becomes the agent "by them", "you" becomes the subject, and the verb phrase "will laugh at" becomes "will be laughed at". This results in the passive sentence: "You will be laughed at by them."

Explanation

When converting the passive sentence Trespassers shall be prosecuted into the active voice, the omitted agent is introduced as the subject. In this context, the appropriate subject is the authorities. To maintain the exact tense and modal auxiliary of the original sentence, the modal verb shall and the base form of the verb prosecute are used. This results in the active construction The authorities shall prosecute trespassers.

Explanation

The active sentence is in the past continuous tense, indicated by the auxiliary verb "was" and the present participle "driving". To convert a sentence in the past continuous tense into the passive voice, the active form of "was/were + present participle" changes to the passive form of "was/were + being + past participle".

Applying this rule, the active subject "He" and the active object "the car" swap positions, and "was driving" becomes "was being driven". The agent is introduced with the preposition "by", resulting in "The car was being driven by him". The remaining clause "so fast that it skidded on the snowy road" remains unchanged as it functions adverbially.

Explanation

When converting direct speech into indirect speech, several standard grammatical transformations are applied. The reporting verb said to is converted to told. The conjunction that is introduced to connect the reporting clause with the reported clause, replacing the comma and quotation marks. The first-person pronoun I in the direct speech is changed to the third-person pronoun he to match the subject of the reporting verb. The simple past tense verb grew undergoes a backshift to the past perfect tense had grown because the reporting verb is in the past tense. Additionally, the demonstrative pronoun these changes to those, and the reflexive pronoun myself is changed to himself to align with the subject pronoun he. Applying all these rules yields the indirect speech form: He told me that he had grown those carrots himself.

Explanation

When converting direct speech to indirect speech, if the reporting verb is in the past tense (said), the verbs within the quoted speech change to their corresponding past tenses. The simple present verbs "know" and "is" change to the simple past forms "knew" and "was", respectively. Additionally, the first-person pronoun "I" changes to the third-person pronoun "she" to refer back to Mrs. Shankar. The conjunction "that" is used to connect the reporting verb with the reported clause, resulting in: Mrs. Shankar said that she knew what it was to be depressed.

Explanation

When converting direct speech into indirect speech, specific grammatical changes must be applied to tenses, pronouns, and adverbs of time. The reporting verb "had asked" is in the past perfect tense, which requires changing the modal verb "will" to "would". The adverb of time "now" changes to "then" to reflect the shift from direct to indirect narration. Additionally, the first-person pronouns "our" and "us" change to the third-person pronouns "their" and "them" to match the perspective of the speakers. The phrase "had asked" is appropriately rendered as "had wanted to know", preserving the past perfect aspect. All these rules are correctly followed in this transformation.

Explanation

The indirect sentence contains the conjunction whether, which signifies that the direct speech must be a yes-no question starting with an auxiliary verb. The past tense verb was in the indirect speech changes to the present tense are in the direct speech. The noun Gangu, referred to as the latter in the indirect statement, is addressed directly in the first person, changing the third-person pronouns his and the latter to the second-person pronouns your and you. This yields the direct question, "Gangu, are you in your senses?" asked Moti.

Explanation

When changing indirect speech to direct speech, the tense of the verb remains in the simple present if the statement represents a universal truth, general fact, or permanent situation. The assertion that we are all born to die is an undeniable universal truth, so the verb are remains unchanged. In direct speech, the exact words spoken are enclosed in quotation marks and separated from the reporting verb said by a comma.

Explanation

Sentence 1 introduces different ways of communicating, and Part P immediately extends this concept by stating that even animals communicate.

Part S uses the pronoun "their" to refer back to the "animals" introduced in Part P, establishing that animal communication differs from human communication.

Part Q expands on this difference by explaining that humans uniquely express thoughts in words because of a superior brain.

Part R acts as a transition, noting that both humans and animals also communicate through body language, which moves the topic from verbal to non-verbal communication.

This connects directly to Sentence 6, which elaborates on non-verbal communication by mentioning gestures and hand movements used instead of words.

Explanation

The passage describes the evolutionary relationship between humans and fire. Sentence 1 begins by stating that humans were initially afraid of natural fires. Sentence P logically follows this by explaining the transition from fear to appreciation as they gradually realized its utility. Sentences Q and S expand on this appreciation by listing the immediate benefits they discovered, such as warmth, protection, hardened spear tips, and cooked meat. Sentence R then transitions to how humans first began utilizing fire on their own through natural occurrences like lightning strikes. Finally, sentence 6 concludes the sequence by describing how they progressed from using accidental natural fire to actively generating it themselves through friction and sparks. This creates a cohesive chronological and logical flow.

Explanation

The sentence starts with the subject When the Impressionists, which requires a verb to complete the clause. Part S provides this verb with painted pictures of people. This is followed naturally by part P, which uses the pronoun they to refer back to the Impressionists and describes their artistic choice: they made them look like. The prepositional phrase look like needs an object, which is found in part R with people you would see. The adverb everyday in part Q qualifies how often you would see these people, and the conjunction and connects the first clause to the participle clause often putting, which perfectly transitions into the final part 6, more emphasis on the scene. Thus, the logical and grammatical sequence is S-P-R-Q.

Explanation

The sentence begins with the subject and verb Sherlock Holmes is the, which requires a noun phrase starting with a vowel sound to follow the article. Part S exceptional individual fits perfectly to complete this opening clause. The noun individual is then modified by the relative clause starting with the relative pronoun who in part P who is in a state of grace. This is followed by the reason clause in part R because in him scientific curiosity, which introduces the subject scientific curiosity. The verb phrase for this subject is found in part Q is raised to the status, which then logically connects to the prepositional phrase in sentence 6 of a heroic passion. Combining these parts in the order SPRQ forms a grammatically correct and coherent sentence.

Explanation

The sentence begins with the noun phrase "The goals of our present system". This is logically followed by part S, "of primary and secondary", which specifies the type of system.

The adjective "secondary" at the end of part S connects directly with the noun "schooling" in part P, forming the phrase "secondary schooling is to prepare".

The verb "prepare" in part P requires an object and a purpose, which is provided by part Q, "students for the examination system".

The noun phrase "examination system" at the end of part Q is further described by the relative clause in part R, "which will take them to the".

Part R ends with the definite article "the", which naturally leads into the final segment 6, "best technical institutions in the country."

This sequence creates a grammatically correct and cohesive sentence in the order SPQR.

Explanation

Sentence 1 introduces egotism as a common human fault. Part Q naturally follows by explaining that this fault arises from a perfectly natural desire to display oneself. Part P then uses the contrast word However to show how this natural desire transforms over time into an exaggerated self-display, establishing a clear logical link between Q and P. Part S states that this defect must be constantly hunted down and scotched. Part R begins with This is necessary, directly referencing the action of hunting down and scotching the defect described in S, and explains why this action is required. This leads smoothly to the concluding sentence 6, which advises being on guard against egotism.

Explanation

The passage describes a kind, responsible, and caring employer who is making arrangements for the well-being of his orphan servant-maid before moving to Delhi, promising financial support and earning praise from the nun as an excellent master. The adjective gentle perfectly fits this context to describe a polite, honorable, and benevolent man of good character.

Explanation

The term "transferred" is the most appropriate word in this context as it refers to being officially relocated or reassigned to another city, such as Delhi, for professional reasons. This explains the gentleman's situation and the subsequent need to arrange care for his servant-maid.

Explanation

The idiom to leave someone to the care of someone means to entrust a person to the charge, supervision, or responsibility of others. In this context, the man wishes to place his servant-maid under the supervision and looking after of the nuns at the home, which makes care the most idiomatic and grammatically appropriate fit for the blank.

Explanation

The conjunction because is used to introduce a clause that states the reason for an action. In this context, the servant-maid being an orphan is the reason why her master assured the nun that he would send money every month for her care and support.

Explanation

The word consoled is the correct fit for the blank because it means to comfort someone at a time of sadness, grief, or distress. In the context of the passage, the servant-maid is an orphan who is being left behind at the home for the aged by her master. Feeling abandoned or distressed by this separation is a natural emotional response for her. The nun comforts and reassures the maid by telling her that she has a very kind and caring master who has made arrangements for her well-being and promised financial support, making consoled the most appropriate action for the nun in this situation.

Explanation

The passage explicitly states that the greatest crime in India today is idleness, and that if we root out idleness, all our difficulties, including even conflicts, will gradually disappear. This directly means that discarding idleness is the key to freeing oneself from the clutches of difficulties.

Explanation

According to the reading comprehension passage, freedom has assuredly given us a new status and new opportunities. Since the word "assuredly" is synonymous with "undeniably", this directly indicates that freedom has undeniably offered new opportunities to the citizens of India.

Explanation

According to the passage, the one crucial thing that needs to be stressed more than any other in the new set-up is that everyone should put into action their full capacity in productive effort within their respective spheres. This directly matches the idea of people working to their full capacity to contribute to the nation's progress.

Explanation

The sentence is derived from a passage where the text states: "Work, unceasing work, should now be our watch-word." In this context, "unceasing" means continuous or non-stop, which is directly synonymous with the word "incessant". Similarly, "watch-word" is synonymous with "motto". Therefore, "incessant" is the most appropriate word to complete the sentence in alignment with the original passage's meaning.

Explanation

According to the reading comprehension passage from which this question is drawn, true happiness and satisfaction are derived from dedication and hard work. The text explicitly states that work is wealth, and service is happiness, adding that nothing else is. Within this context, service is directly equated with joy and happiness.

Explanation

The word expertise is defined as expert or specialized knowledge or skill in a particular field. Because the concept of being special is already inherent in the definition of expertise, modifying it with the adjective special creates grammatical redundancy. To correct the sentence, the word special should be omitted so that the phrase reads as her expertise.