SSC CHSL Tier 1 2016 English Comprehension Questions with Solutions

Explanation

The preposition toward is used in the standard idiomatic phrase toward this end, which means with this goal or objective in mind or in order to achieve this purpose. In the context of the passage, the preceding sentence establishes the goal of restoring the confidence of victims and achieving justice. To work in the direction of achieving this objective, the system must confer specific rights on victims. This makes toward the appropriate choice to connect the stated goal with the necessary actions.

Explanation

The context of the sentence refers to granting victims specific legal rights to actively take part in court processes. In English grammar and legal terminology, the verb that collocates with the preposition "in" to mean taking part in an activity or event is "participate". Thus, enabling victims to "participate in the proceedings" fits grammatically and contextually, as the passage goes on to detail specific ways they can take part, such as being impleaded, engaging an advocate, tracking progress, and being heard.

Explanation

In the context of the passage, the word "proceedings" refers to the formal legal actions, trials, or steps taken in a court of law. Since the sentence discusses granting victims rights to enable their participation "in the proceedings"—such as the right to be impleaded and to engage an advocate—it naturally follows that they should also be given the right to track the ongoing progress of these same legal "proceedings." This selection maintains contextual consistency and parallel structure within the sentence.

Explanation

The noun pursuit is the most grammatically and contextually appropriate choice for the blank. It forms the highly idiomatic and standard English collocation pursuit of truth, which refers to the act of searching for, investigating, or trying to find the truth. In a legal context, assisting the court in this endeavor is a fundamental aspect of delivering justice, making this phrase the correct fit.

Explanation

The word tryst is defined as a private romantic meeting between lovers, or more generally, an agreement to meet at a specific time and place. Similarly, a rendezvous refers to a meeting at an agreed time and place, making it the correct synonym.

Explanation

The idiom "cock and bull story" refers to a far-fetched, highly improbable, and fabricated tale that is typically used as an excuse or explanation. The phrase is believed to have originated from traditional fables involving talking animals, such as a cock and a bull, which are inherently unrealistic and fictional. Therefore, when someone tells a cock and bull story, they are offering an absurd or implausible narrative to explain away a situation or to deceive others.

Explanation

The phrasal verb put on is incorrectly used in this context. To display, post, or pin up a notice, sign, or announcement on a wall or notice board for public view, the correct phrasal verb is put up. Therefore, the phrase should be corrected to Please put up a note.

Explanation

A veteran is defined as a person who has had long experience and has developed a high level of expertise in a particular field, profession, or activity. Conversely, an amateur is a person who is inexperienced, unskilled, or engages in an activity purely as a pastime rather than as a professional or highly experienced practitioner. This makes amateur the appropriate antonym representing a lack of professional experience and seasoned skill.

Explanation

The idiom to make a long story short is a common conversational expression used when a speaker wants to bypass unnecessary details and get straight to the main point of a narrative. It allows the speaker to skip minor details and conclude their explanation or account of events rapidly, ensuring the listener receives the most essential information without delay.

Explanation

The idiom "to steal someone's thunder" originated in the early 18th century when a playwright invented a new method of making the sound of thunder for his play. When a rival production used his sound-effect method shortly after, he complained that they had stolen his thunder. Today, the phrase is widely used to describe a situation where someone preempts another person's actions, ideas, or achievements, doing them beforehand or presenting them first, in order to divert the attention and take the praise and credit for themselves.

Explanation

The error lies in part B of the sentence. The verb married, when used in the passive voice or as an adjective to describe a state of marital relationship, is followed by the preposition to rather than with. Therefore, married with must be replaced by married to to make the sentence grammatically correct.

Explanation

The sentence begins with the adverbial transition "Thus," which is logically followed by the parenthetical qualifying phrase "at the very least," (R). This qualifier is set off by a comma, leading into the subject and verb of the main clause "a developing economy also needs" (P). The verb "needs" is transitively completed by the infinitive phrase "to have some notion of external balance" (Q). This arrangement forms a grammatically correct and coherent sentence.

Explanation

The given active voice sentence is in the simple past tense and has an interrogative structure starting with the question word When. To convert an interrogative sentence in the simple past tense from active to passive voice, the structure is: Question word + was/were + subject (the object of the active voice) + past participle of the verb + by + agent (the subject of the active voice).

In the active sentence, my bike is the object, Rohit is the subject, and return is the main verb. Applying the passive voice rules, the singular object my bike takes the auxiliary verb was, and return becomes returned. This results in the correct passive construction: When was my bike returned by Rohit?

Explanation

The first clause of the sentence is in the simple past tense (were invited). To maintain grammatical consistency and a logical sequence of events, the subsequent clause must also be in the simple past tense. An invitation must be extended before it can be accepted or declined, so using the past perfect tense is grammatically incorrect since past perfect denotes an action that occurred prior to another past action. Using the simple past tense (accepted) correctly represents the chronological order of these past events.

Explanation

The past conditional structure would have followed by a past participle is used to express a hypothetical situation, possibility, or conjecture. Replacing will with would correctly indicates that the son would have looked smart in a kurta under a hypothetical or assumed circumstance.

Explanation

The word surgeons is spelled correctly. A surgeon is a medical practitioner who specializes in performing surgery. The standard spelling of this noun in its plural form is s-u-r-g-e-o-n-s. It is derived from the Anglo-French word surgien, which ultimately traces back to the Greek words for hand and work.

Explanation

The word rot means to undergo natural decomposition, disintegration, or putrefaction, typically through the action of bacteria or fungi. Decay refers to this exact process of organic decomposition and breakdown, making it the correct synonym.

Explanation

Fatigue refers to a state of extreme tiredness or exhaustion resulting from physical or mental exertion. Vigour represents active strength, physical force, energy, and vitality. Because vigour denotes high energy and active strength, it serves as the direct antonym of fatigue, which represents the complete lack of energy.

Explanation

The sentence is a well-known English proverb emphasizing the direct connection between a person's health and the food they consume. Standard proverbs, universal truths, and general facts are always stated in the simple present tense to indicate a permanent or habitual state. Consequently, the simple present form eat is the grammatically appropriate choice to complete this established idiomatic expression.

Explanation

The word abhor is defined as to regard with extreme disgust, loathing, or hatred. It originates from the Latin prefix ab- meaning away and horrere meaning to shudder, which literally translates to shrinking back from something in dread or disgust.

Explanation

The word conspicuous is an adjective meaning clearly visible, obvious, or attracting notice. When describing a lack of efficiency revealed by investigations, it indicates that the deficiency was highly prominent and easily observable to anyone examining the operations, fitting the context of the sentence perfectly.

Explanation

The adverb widely is the standard linguistic collocation used with spoken to describe a language that is used by a large number of people or distributed over a vast geographical area. In India, Hindi has the largest number of speakers, making it the most widely spoken language in the country.

Explanation

The word wrapping is correctly spelled. It is the present participle of the verb wrap, which means to cover or enclose something in paper or another material. When adding the suffix -ing to the single-syllable base verb wrap, which ends in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, the final consonant p is doubled, resulting in the correct spelling wrapping.

Explanation

When converting an exclamatory sentence expressing approval or applause with the word Bravo! into indirect speech, the reporting verb said is changed to applauded followed by the object and the phrase saying that. The present perfect tense in the direct speech (have done) changes to the past perfect tense (had done) in the indirect speech. Additionally, the second-person pronoun you changes to the third-person pronoun he to refer to Puneet. Applying these rules, the sentence is correctly reported as: The coach applauded Puneet saying that he had done well.

Explanation

The opening phrase Gone are the days is naturally followed by the relative clause beginning with when to specify which days are being referred to. This makes part R the immediate next segment in the sequence. The description of a closed economy in part R is then logically complemented by part Q, which uses the coordinating conjunction and to add the characteristic of not really worried. Finally, the adjective worried in part Q requires the preposition about to introduce its object, which is provided directly by part P with about foreign trade and payments. This creates a grammatically correct and logically coherent sentence.

Explanation

The verb "shear" refers to the act of cutting or clipping the wool, hair, or fleece off a sheep or other animal. This practice is typically carried out once a year to harvest the wool for textile production and to keep the animal cool during the warmer months.

Explanation

The word ineradicable is formed from the prefix in- (meaning not) and the verb eradicate (meaning to completely destroy, remove, or pull up by the roots). Therefore, ineradicable is used to describe something, such as a habit, feeling, or stain, that is so firmly established or deep-seated that it is impossible to destroy, erase, or remove.

Explanation

The phrasal verb come across means to meet, find, or encounter someone or something by chance. In the context of the sentence, it expresses the idea that a person only encounters or finds an ideal policeman in crime fiction. The preposition across correctly completes the phrasal verb to deliver this intended meaning.

Explanation

The passage begins by stating that an ideal policeman is a myth and can only be found in fiction, establishing that such a figure is highly elusive. The adverb equally is used in the next sentence to draw a parallel comparison. It indicates that good policing is elusive to the same degree as the ideal policeman, smoothly linking the two concepts together by showing they share the exact same quality of being difficult to find or define.

Explanation

The relative pronoun "that" is used to introduce the defining relative clause modifying the noun phrase "an idea". In this sentence, "that" refers back to its antecedent "an idea", acting as the essential connector to the subordinate clause "even the best of criminal justice thinkers have found it difficult to define". Using "that" provides the correct grammatical link required to clarify and define the specific "idea" being discussed in the context.

Explanation

The phrasal verb settle for means to accept something that is less than perfect or not exactly what was desired, usually because a better option is not available. The passage establishes that an ideal policeman is a myth, meaning a perfect standard cannot be achieved in reality. Therefore, in a chaotic world, we reluctantly have to accept and make peace with an imperfect policeman, making settle the correct contextual choice to precede the preposition for.

Explanation

The word inadequate begins with a vowel sound. In English grammar, the indefinite article an is used before words starting with a vowel sound. Using this article also maintains a parallel grammatical structure with the preceding phrase, an imperfect policeman.

Explanation

The idiom "come hell or high water" is used to express strong determination to complete a task or achieve a goal, regardless of any difficulties, obstacles, or adverse circumstances that may arise. The phrase references surviving extreme threats like the fires of hell or a major flood to signify that nothing will prevent the action from being completed.

Explanation

The sentence is grammatically correct in all its parts. The noun reputation is correctly followed by the preposition for and the gerund phrase being rough on, which idiomatically means acting in a harsh or demanding manner toward someone. The singular subject His reputation agrees perfectly with the singular past tense verb was, and well earned is the appropriate adjectival phrase to describe a deserved reputation. Thus, there are no grammatical, structural, or idiomatic errors in the sentence.

Explanation

To scar means to cause a permanent mark, damage, or disfigurement on a person or object. Similarly, to maim means to wound, injure, or mutilate someone so severely that it results in permanent damage or disfigurement. Both verbs share the fundamental meaning of inflicting lasting physical harm or impairment, making them synonyms.

Explanation

The adverb too is used to mean also or in addition and is correctly placed at the end of a sentence or clause. In the sentence, Viren plays hockey and football too, the word too is grammatically correct and fits the context perfectly, so no improvement is required.

Explanation

When converting a direct speech yes/no question into indirect speech, the reporting verb said to is changed to asked. The conjunction if or whether is used to connect the reporting clause with the reported clause, and the conjunction that is never used with if or whether. The second-person pronoun you changes to she to refer to the object of the reporting verb, her mother. Additionally, the tense of the sentence changes from simple present Do you always get up to simple past she always got up. This makes the sentence Sita asked her mother if she always got up early.

Explanation

To revel means to engage in lively, noisy, and joyous festivities, or to take immense pleasure and delight in something. Gloom, on the other hand, represents a state of sadness, despondency, and depression, making it the direct antonym of revel.

Explanation

The sentence begins with the phrase "The fundamental cause of". This opening must be completed by a noun or noun phrase to act as the object of the preposition "of". Part Q begins with "the trouble", which grammatically continues the opening segment to form "The fundamental cause of the trouble".

Part Q ends with the words "is that in the", which requires a noun phrase to follow the article "the". Part P starts with "modern world", providing the necessary noun phrase to complete the prepositional phrase, reading "in the modern world the stupid are cocksure".

Finally, part R begins with the coordinating conjunction "while", which introduces a contrasting clause ("while the intelligent are full of doubt") that directly balances the assertion made in part P.

Combining these parts in the order Q-P-R yields the grammatically correct and coherent sentence: "The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."

Explanation

The error lies in part C of the sentence. In the relative clause "that was ever written", the relative pronoun "that" refers to the plural antecedent "stories" rather than the singular pronoun "one". When a relative pronoun acts as the subject of a relative clause, the verb in the clause must agree in number with its antecedent. Therefore, the singular verb "was" must be replaced with the plural verb "were" to achieve correct subject-verb agreement.

Explanation

When converting an exclamatory sentence from direct to indirect speech, the reporting verb "said" is changed to "exclaimed". The conjunction "that" is used to connect the reporting clause and the reported clause, and the exclamatory sentence is converted into an assertive sentence. Since the reporting verb is in the past tense, the tense of the reported speech changes from present to past, converting "is" to "was". Thus, "What a beautiful vase!" becomes "it was a very beautiful vase".

Explanation

The word miracles is correctly spelled. It is the plural form of the noun miracle, which refers to an extraordinary and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is instead attributed to a divine agency. The standard spelling is m-i-r-a-c-l-e-s.

Explanation

A bristle refers to a short, stiff, and sharp hair, fibre, or spike-like protrusion commonly found on animals, plants, or brush heads. Similarly, a thorn is a stiff, sharp-pointed, protective projection found on plants. Both words describe sharp, rigid, and needle-like structures, making them close synonyms in the context of pointed, spikey protrusions.

Explanation

The mandible is the bone that forms the lower jaw in vertebrates, including mammals and fishes. It is a movable bone that holds the lower teeth in place and assists in activities such as mastication and biting.

Explanation

The sentence begins with the singular subject "A saint or a satyagrahi". This subject requires a singular verb, which is provided in part Q: "is often put on a pedestal".

The participle clause in part P, "freezing her acts of goodness", naturally follows to describe the consequence or manner of putting them on a pedestal.

Finally, part R, "in time", is a prepositional phrase that modifies the action of freezing, completing the thought as "freezing her acts of goodness in time".

Combining these parts in the order Q-P-R forms a grammatically correct and coherent sentence: "A saint or a satyagrahi is often put on a pedestal freezing her acts of goodness in time."

Explanation

To castigate means to reprimand, criticize, or punish someone severely. The word approve, which means to officially agree to or accept as satisfactory, serves as a direct antonym because it represents positive validation and acceptance rather than severe censure or reprimand.

Explanation

The word deliberate describes an action or decision that is carefully weighed, cautious, and made with a full awareness of the consequences. The word imprudent means acting without thought, caution, or care for the consequences, representing a lack of judgment. Therefore, imprudent serves as the direct antonym to deliberate.

Explanation

The idiomatic expression "cannot help but" (or its past tense form "could not help but") is grammatically followed by a bare infinitive, which is the base form of the verb without "to". In this sentence, the base form of the verb is "cry", which correctly completes the structure to express the inability to avoid or resist crying in response to the sad story.

Explanation

The idiom rise and shine is a cheerful phrase commonly used to tell someone to wake up, get out of bed, and start the day. It has historical roots as a military slang command, encouraging soldiers to arise from sleep and perform their duties with energy and enthusiasm.

Explanation

The word subdued refers to being quiet, restrained, or low-key in nature. In contrast, boisterous describes someone or something that is noisy, energetic, and rowdy. Because these two terms represent opposite states of energy and volume, boisterous serves as the direct antonym of subdued.