SSC CHSL Tier 1 2013 English Comprehension Questions with Solutions

Explanation

When a sentence begins with a restrictive or negative adverbial phrase like "Not only", subject-verb inversion must be used. This means an auxiliary verb must be placed before the subject. Therefore, the phrase "Not only she makes" is grammatically incorrect and should be written as "Not only does she make". Alternatively, "not only" can be placed after the subject, as in "She not only makes", making the original structure in this part of the sentence incorrect.

Explanation

The definite article "the" is used before the names of musical instruments when referring to playing them. Therefore, "a flute" should be replaced with "the flute" to make the sentence grammatically correct.

Explanation

The sentence They are ignorant of what is happening here is grammatically correct in every part. The plural subject They is correctly paired with the plural verb are. The adjective ignorant is appropriately followed by its standard preposition of, and the noun clause what is happening here functions correctly as the object of this preposition. Since the sentence contains no grammatical or syntax errors, the choice corresponding to no error is correct.

Explanation

The first clause of the sentence uses the simple past tense verb tried, which indicates that the subsequent clause must also be in the simple past tense to maintain consistency of tenses. The idiomatic expression to be too clever for someone means to be too smart or sharp to be deceived, outwitted, or bribed by them. Therefore, the phrase was too clever for correctly conveys that the peon was smart enough to resist and outwit their bribery attempt.

Explanation

In reported speech, indirect questions use the assertive word order where the subject is followed by the verb, rather than the interrogative word order where the verb precedes the subject. When transforming a direct question about time into an indirect question introduced by a past tense reporting verb like asked, the tense shifts back and the subject the time is placed before the verb was. This makes what the time was grammatically correct as it functions as the noun clause object of the sentence.

Explanation

The word embezzle means to misappropriate or steal money or funds placed in one's trust or belonging to an organization or client. In a financial and legal context, when brokers illegally take or misuse the money entrusted to them by their clients for their own use, they are said to embezzle those funds.

Explanation

In English grammar, we use the indefinite article "a" when referring to injuring or breaking one of several identical body parts of which a person has many, such as ribs, teeth, or fingers. Since a human has twenty-four ribs, fracturing one of them is idiomatically expressed as breaking "a rib" (unlike unique limbs, where we would typically say "broke his leg" or "broke his arm").

Explanation

The phrasal verb bring round means to restore someone to consciousness, revive them, or help them recover from a serious illness or a critical, life-threatening condition. In the context of medical professionals working diligently on a dying patient, it describes the act of reviving the patient and restoring them to health.

Explanation

The word forsake is a verb that means to completely desert, leave behind, or give up on someone or something, especially when one has a responsibility towards them. The word abandon likewise means to cease to support, look after, or desert someone or something, making it the most accurate synonym that best expresses the meaning of the given word.

Explanation

The word stratagem refers to a clever plan, scheme, or deceptive tactic designed to outwit an opponent, achieve a specific goal, or gain an advantage. Because it represents a cunning or artful device used to mislead or outmaneuver someone, trick is the term that best captures its meaning.

Explanation

The word keen describes someone who is highly enthusiastic, eager, or intensely interested in something. The term indifferent means having a complete lack of interest, concern, or enthusiasm. Therefore, indifferent serves as the direct antonym to keen.

Explanation

The word dreary is used to describe something that is dull, bleak, boring, or lacking in liveliness and interest. The opposite of a dreary situation or experience is one that is engaging, exciting, and holds one's attention, which is defined as interesting.

Explanation

The word hippopotamus is the correct spelling for the large, mostly herbivorous, semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. The term originates from the Ancient Greek words hippos meaning horse and potamos meaning river, translating literally to river horse. The correct English spelling requires a double p in the first syllable, a single p in the second syllable, and ends with the suffix -us.

Explanation

The correct spelling is privilege, which originates from the Latin word privilegium, combining privus meaning private or individual, and lex meaning law. It represents a special right, advantage, or immunity granted to a particular person or group. In standard English orthography, the word contains the vowel i in the second syllable and does not include a d before the g.

Explanation

The idiom "keep the wolf from the door" means to have enough money or resources to purchase food and basic necessities, thereby preventing hunger or starvation. Historically, the wolf symbolizes starvation or ruin, and keeping it away from one's home represents maintaining a minimum level of financial security to survive. Therefore, it translates to having enough money to avoid hunger and need.

Explanation

The phrasal verb "to get through with" means to finish or complete a task, particularly one that is difficult, laborious, or requires a significant amount of effort and perseverance. Since writing a doctoral thesis is a highly demanding and long-term academic endeavor, stating that Arvind finally got through with his thesis indicates that he successfully completed and finished it after a period of hard toil and dedication.

Explanation

The idiom "till the cows come home" is used to describe an action or situation that continues for a very long time, or indefinitely. It originates from the agricultural practice where cows graze slowly in pastures and only return to their sheds after a long, unspecified duration, usually at the end of the day. Therefore, doing something "till the cows come home" implies that the activity will go on for a very long period.

Explanation

The term incombustible refers to substances or materials that are incapable of catching fire and burning, and therefore cannot be consumed by fire. This characteristic is typical of materials such as stone, brick, concrete, and certain metals that do not undergo combustion when exposed to high heat or open flames.

Explanation

A harbour is a body of water where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter from stormy weather or rough seas. It provides a protected area, either naturally through surrounding landforms or artificially through man-made barriers like breakwaters, allowing vessels to safely anchor, dock, or undergo maintenance away from turbulent open-ocean conditions.

Explanation

A greengrocer is a retail trader who specifically sells fresh fruit and vegetables. The term merges green, representing fresh produce, with grocer, representing a food dealer, making it the precise English term for a shopkeeper selling fresh, green vegetables.

Explanation

The original sentence is grammatically correct because it uses a reduced adverbial clause of time. In English grammar, when the subject of the dependent clause (when he was describing) is identical to the subject of the independent clause (he was in tears), the subject and the auxiliary verb "to be" can be omitted. This reduction leaves the participle "describing" preceded by the conjunction "when", resulting in a concise, natural, and perfectly structured sentence.

Explanation

The word earnest means sincere, serious, or showing deep conviction. While it can describe human intentions, feelings, or actions, it is not idiomatic when qualifying a pressing requirement.

The adjective urgent means requiring immediate action or attention. The collocation urgent need is the standard and correct way to express that a situation requires immediate action or prompt attention, such as the periodic review and revision of history textbooks. Therefore, replacing earnest with urgent provides the correct meaning and improves the sentence idiomatically.

Explanation

The given sentence is in the Active Voice and Simple Past Tense, indicated by the verb "arranged". To convert a Simple Past Tense sentence into the Passive Voice, the structure used is: Subject (original object) + was/were + V3 (past participle) + remaining part of the sentence. The object "the furniture" is an uncountable noun and is always singular, which means it requires the singular auxiliary verb "was". Applying this structure, "He arranged the furniture" correctly converts to "The furniture was arranged", keeping the rest of the sentence unchanged.

Explanation

The given sentence is in the passive voice of the present continuous tense, which follows the structure: Subject + is/am/are + being + past participle (V3) + by + Object.

To convert this into the active voice, the structure is changed to: Subject + is/am/are + present participle (V-ing) + Object.

Applying this rule, the object of the passive sentence "the girl" becomes the subject of the active sentence, the passive verb phrase "is being learnt" converts to the active present continuous form "is learning", and the subject "Differential Calculus" becomes the direct object. This gives the active voice sentence: "The girl is learning Differential Calculus."

Explanation

The given sentence is in the passive voice and uses the simple present tense, following the structure: By whom + is/am/are + subject + past participle + preposition?

To convert this passive construction into the active voice, the structure is transformed to: Who + simple present verb + object?

Following this rule, the agent of the action "By whom" becomes the interrogative pronoun "Who" at the beginning of the active sentence. The auxiliary verb "is" and the past participle "looked after" are replaced by the simple present active verb "looks after". Finally, the grammatical subject of the passive sentence "John" becomes the direct object of the active sentence, resulting in: Who looks after John?

Explanation

In the active voice sentence, the horse is the subject, jumped is the verb in the simple past tense, over is the preposition linked to the verb, and the fence is the object. When converting a sentence containing a prepositional verb into the passive voice, the preposition must remain attached immediately after the past participle of the verb. The simple past tense verb jumped is converted into was jumped, and the object the fence becomes the new subject. Adding the agent by the horse at the end of this structure results in the fence was jumped over by the horse.

Explanation

The given active voice sentence contains an imperative command "add one tablespoonful of baking powder to the cake mixture". Imperative sentences are converted into the passive voice using the standard grammatical structure: Let + Object + be + Past Participle of the verb. Here, the object of the verb "add" is "one tablespoonful of baking powder". Applying this rule, the verb "add" becomes "be added". The infinitive phrase "to make the batter", which describes the purpose, is appended to the end of the passive construction to preserve the original meaning and structure of the sentence.

Explanation

When converting direct speech into indirect speech, the reporting verb said to followed by an object changes to told. In this sentence, said the little boy to the tree is converted to the little boy told the tree. The first-person pronoun I refers to the subject, the little boy, and changes to he. The present tense verb am changes to the past tense was, and the modal verb can't changes to its past form couldn't. The second-person possessive adjective your refers to the object, the tree, and changes to the possessive pronoun its. This results in the grammatically accurate indirect speech formulation.

Explanation

When converting direct speech to indirect speech, the tense of the reporting verb dictates the tense change in the reported speech. Since the reporting verb is in the past tense (said), the present tense verbs in the direct speech shift to their corresponding past tense forms. The expression of regret in I'm sorry converts to the reporting verb regretted, cannot stay becomes couldn't stay, and I'm waited for becomes he was waited for. The conjunction as is used to logically connect the reason for the regret, maintaining the exact meaning and grammatical correctness of the original sentence.

Explanation

When converting direct speech to indirect speech, if the reporting verb is in the present tense (such as reads, says, or tells), the tense of the verb in the reported speech remains unchanged. Since the reporting verb reads is in the simple present tense, the auxiliary verb will in the reported speech is not changed to would, resulting in: The notice reads that trespassers will be prosecuted.

Explanation

When converting from direct to indirect speech, the reporting verb "urged" is used to convey an earnest, persuasive, or persistent request or entreaty. In the direct speech sentence, "Come, child come. Come on the footpath.", the repetition of the command "Come, child come" expresses a strong sense of persuasion and pleading by the mother. This persistent pleading is best captured by the reporting verb "urged" in indirect speech, with the imperative clause joined using the infinitive "to come", yielding: "The mother urged the child to come on the footpath."

Explanation

When converting direct speech to indirect speech, several grammatical adjustments must be made. The reporting verb said is followed by the conjunction that. The first-person plural pronoun We changes to the third-person plural pronoun they to reflect the perspective of the speaker, Sushma. The modal verb shall, which indicates a future intention, changes to would to represent the future-in-the-past with the pronoun they. Additionally, the adverb of time tomorrow is converted to the next day. This completes the grammatically correct transformation.

Explanation

Sentence 1 introduces the merchant Antonio. Sentence S directly continues this introduction by describing Antonio's reputation for kindness. Sentence P then describes Antonio's social circle, introducing his close friend, the young nobleman Bassanio. Sentence R provides immediate context about Bassanio's financial situation, noting that he was poor and extravagant. Sentence Q follows logically by showing Antonio's generous response to Bassanio's financial troubles, which is further supported by sentence 6 explaining that Antonio could afford this because he was a wealthy merchant with many trading ships.

Explanation

The passage flows logically by first defining self-help in sentence 1, and then introducing a contrast. Sentence R presents the opposite behavior by introducing people in society who do not exert themselves. Sentence P directly continues this thought by using the pronoun "They" to refer to these men and describing their preference to have things done for them. Sentence S follows naturally by using the phrase "Such people" to refer back to them, stating that they are rarely successful. Sentence Q then introduces the counterpart, the successful man who depends the least on others. Sentence 6 concludes the passage by using the pronoun "He" to refer back to the successful man of sentence Q, describing his strength of mind and determination.

Explanation

The correct sequence is RSQP because it forms a grammatically correct and logically coherent sentence. The subject 'Tsunami' is followed by the verb phrase 'is a series of water waves' (R). The cause of these waves is introduced by 'caused by the displacement' (S). The object of displacement is specified by 'of a large volume of a body of water' (Q). This body of water is then qualified by the phrase 'usually an ocean' (P), which naturally connects with the final clause 'though it can occur in large lakes'. Putting these parts together yields: 'Tsunami' which means 'harbour wave' is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water usually an ocean though it can occur in large lakes.

Explanation

The sentence begins with the introductory clause Dante was of moderate height. This is followed by the temporal phrase and after maturity (S), which leads directly into his behavioral habit was accustomed to walk somewhat bowed (R). The manner of his walk is described by the prepositional phrase with a slow and gentle pace (Q). Finally, his attire is introduced by clad always in such sober dress (P), which connects perfectly to the concluding segment as befitted his ripe years (6) through the correlative comparison such... as. This creates the logical and grammatically coherent flow of SRQP.

Explanation

The sentence begins with the clause, Queen Elizabeth had the mind, which requires a qualifying prepositional phrase to complete its meaning. Connecting it with part R, of a political genius, logically completes this initial thought. This is followed by the coordinating conjunction in part P, and nurtured her country, to introduce her next action. The means by which she nurtured her country are then described using parallel prepositional phrases, beginning with part Q, through careful leadership, and continuing with part S, and by choosing capable men, which flows seamlessly into the final part of the sentence, to assist her. This sequence forms a grammatically correct and coherent sentence.

Explanation

The opening sentence introduces drug addiction as a major societal problem. Sentence S smoothly transitions from this general statement to the specific victims, stating that many youngsters are becoming victims of this deadly curse. Sentence Q logically follows S because the phrase "these young men and women" directly refers back to the "youngsters" mentioned in S, describing how their potential is cut short. Sentence R reacts to this tragic state by calling it "an alarming situation" where we cannot remain idle onlookers. Sentence P then proposes the constructive action needed to address this situation, calling for a joint effort by family, government, and social organizations, which perfectly leads into the concluding pledge in statement 6 of uniting for a drug-free world.

Explanation

The past tense verb leaned is the appropriate choice to describe resting or supporting oneself using the elbow as a pivot or support. The phrase lean on one's elbow is a standard idiomatic expression in English to denote this posture. In this context, it describes the physical action of Martin supporting his weight on his elbow to look through the leaves of a tree down at the alligators below, which aligns with the narrative context of the passage.

Explanation

In this context, Martin is positioned on an elevated area such as a bank or a tree, as indicated by him leaning on his elbow and looking through the leaves to see the lake below. The word "down" combined with "through" correctly describes the downward direction of his gaze from this higher vantage point through the foliage to spot the alligators in the water. This fits the spatial setting and flow of the narrative perfectly.

Explanation

The noun "number" is correct because the phrase "a number of" is a standard English idiomatic expression used to denote a plural quantity of countable nouns, meaning "several" or "some". In this context, "a number of alligators" appropriately describes a group of multiple alligators floating in the lake, which is consistent with the subsequent sentence referring to them as "creatures".

Explanation

The indefinite article is used before singular countable nouns or noun phrases that begin with a consonant sound. In the sentence, the word huge begins with the consonant sound /h/, so this article is correct to modify the noun phrase huge one.

Explanation

In this context, the word bank refers to the sloping side of a body of water or a raised mound of earth or sand along a shore. A bank of sand (commonly known as a sandbank) perfectly fits the description of a shore-side sandy area where an alligator would haul itself out of the lake to lie down, just a few yards from the water.

Explanation

The author explicitly introduces Shakespeare's sister as a product of creative speculation, writing, "Let me imagine, since facts are so hard to come by, what would have happened had Shakespeare had a wonderfully gifted sister, called Judith, let us say." This clearly indicates that she is a fictional, imaginary figure constructed by the author to explore the hypothetical scenario of a talented woman during the Elizabethan era.

Explanation

The passage states, "Let me imagine, since facts are so hard to come by, what would have happened had Shakespeare had a wonderfully gifted sister, called Judith, let us say." The phrase "Let me imagine" combined with the hypothetical structure "had Shakespeare had" demonstrates that the character of Judith is a purely fictional creation of the author to illustrate her point. This indicates that Shakespeare did not actually have a sister.

Explanation

The phrasal verb come by means to obtain, acquire, or manage to get something, especially when it is difficult to find or secure. For example, in the sentence, Good jobs are hard to come by in a recession, the phrase is used to indicate that such opportunities are difficult to obtain or manage to get.

Explanation

The passage focuses on the life and early experiences of William Shakespeare. It details his probable education at a grammar school, his study of Latin, his rebellious youth involving poaching rabbits, his early marriage, and his journey to London where he started working at a theatre door. These details collectively outline the key events of Shakespeare's life.

Explanation

The passage describes Shakespeare in his youth as a wild boy who had to marry a woman in his neighbourhood rather sooner than he should have done, with his wife bearing a child quicker than was right. This hasty and premature decision, which the author characterizes as an escapade, reveals that his marriage was impulsive and driven by reckless or sudden actions rather than careful deliberation.