SSC CHSL Tier 1 2021 English Comprehension Questions with Solutions

Explanation

The idiom play fast and loose means to behave in an irresponsible, deceitful, or untrustworthy way, especially by ignoring rules, commitments, or facts. In the context of a dishonest employee, this phrase accurately describes their untrustworthy behavior towards their boss, making it the grammatically and idiomatically correct substitution.

Explanation

The given sentence is in the passive voice, indicated by the structure was formulated (was + past participle) and the agent introduced by by (by the member nations).

To convert this simple past passive sentence into the active voice, the agent of the action, the member nations, becomes the subject of the active sentence. The simple past passive verb was formulated changes to the simple past active verb formulated. The original passive subject, a new policy for peace and tolerance, becomes the direct object of the active verb. The remaining adverbial phrase in the Universal Council meeting yesterday remains at the end of the clause. This results in a grammatically correct active voice sentence.

Explanation

The context of the sentence emphasizes taking active action to achieve and maintain good health. To prioritise means to treat something as being more important than other things. In the pursuit of being healthy, wellness must be given primary importance and urgency, which makes this word the most appropriate fit for the blank.

Explanation

The modal verb must is used to express strong obligation, necessity, or duty. In this context, taking care of oneself is presented as an essential action and a matter of urgent priority because health is wealth. This fits the advisory and imperative tone established throughout the passage regarding the critical importance of health and fitness.

Explanation

The word perfunctory means carried out with a minimum of effort, interest, or reflection, often characterized by carelessness, haste, or superficiality. The opposite of this is careful, which describes something done with great attention, precision, thoroughness, and effort. Therefore, careful acts as the exact antonym in this context, representing a deep and focused attempt to understand rather than a shallow or hasty one.

Explanation

The idiom "be under a cloud" refers to being under suspicion, in disgrace, or viewed with distrust and disapproval. When someone is under a cloud, their integrity or actions are doubted, which makes them appear untrustworthy to others because of suspected wrongdoing.

Explanation

The word imprisonment refers to the state of being confined or kept in prison as a punishment. Incarceration is a direct synonym that means the act of confining someone in a jail, prison, or other penitentiary, representing the legal restriction of a person's liberty.

Explanation

The idiom "hit the sack" is a common informal expression that means to go to bed or go to sleep. The origin of the phrase dates back to a time when mattresses were simple sacks stuffed with straw, hay, or feathers. Consequently, "hitting the sack" literally meant lying down on one's mattress to sleep.

Explanation

The correct spelling of the word is Sacrilege. Derived from the Latin word sacrilegium, which combines sacr (meaning sacred) and legere (meaning to gather or steal), it refers to the violation, desecration, or misuse of what is regarded as sacred. The spelling Sacrilage is incorrect because it uses the letter a instead of e in the third syllable.

Explanation

The idiom in queer street is an old British slang expression dating back to the early nineteenth century. It is used to describe a person who is facing acute financial difficulties, experiencing insolvency, or is heavily in debt. The term queer in this historical context meant odd, counter, or unfavorable, and street metaphorically represented ones financial path or standing, leading to its usage for someone struggling with monetary trouble and unpaid bills.

Explanation

The sentence describes two actions that occurred in the past, where one action was completed before the other took place. When representing two sequential actions in the past, the earlier action must be expressed in the past perfect tense (had + past participle), while the later action is expressed in the simple past tense.

Since the train's departure happened before the arrival at the station, the past perfect continuous tense "had already been leaving" is grammatically incorrect. It must be replaced with the past perfect tense "had already left" to denote a completed action.

Explanation

The adverb "hardly" means "scarcely" or "almost not", which contradicts the intended meaning of the sentence. To convey that the students and teachers put in a lot of effort, the adverb "hard" should be used instead. The correct grammatical construction is "worked hard".

Explanation

The word guessed means to form an estimate or conjecture about something without complete certainty. In this context, feelings refers to a person's internal affective states, which are synonymous with emotions. When someone starts crying, it serves as an outward physical expression that allows an observer to infer or estimate those underlying internal emotions.

Explanation

The original active voice sentence consists of two clauses joined by the conjunction "and", both using the simple past tense ("arranged" and "took").

To convert the first clause, "His friends arranged for the ambulance," into passive voice, the object "the ambulance" becomes the new subject. The simple past verb "arranged" changes to "was arranged", and the preposition "for" is kept next to the verb, followed by "by" and the agent "his friends". This results in: "The ambulance was arranged for by his friends."

To convert the second clause, "[His friends] took him immediately to the hospital," into passive voice, the objective pronoun "him" becomes the subject pronoun "he". The simple past verb "took" changes to "was taken". The adverb "immediately" is placed between the auxiliary verb "was" and the past participle "taken". This results in: "and he was immediately taken to the hospital."

Combining both converted clauses in the passive voice produces: "The ambulance was arranged for by his friends and he was immediately taken to the hospital."

Explanation

The common English idiom and collocation is "break the ice", which means to relieve tension or initiate a conversation in a social setting, particularly when people meet for the first time. The phrase metaphorically refers to clearing a pathway of ice to allow ships to navigate through, representing the act of overcoming initial awkwardness or formality to establish a friendly connection.

Explanation

The sentence describes Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, who were the most prominent, influential, and preeminent personalities in India during the first half of the twentieth century. The adjective dominating means having a commanding influence or prevailing over all others. When paired with outstanding, it perfectly captures their towering stature and the unparalleled impact they had on India's literary, cultural, social, and political landscape during that period.

Explanation

An immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country, which matches the description of someone who has come to a different country from their own to settle.

Explanation

The word is incorrectly spelt. The correct spelling is scalable.

When forming an adjective by adding the suffix -able to a verb that ends in a silent e (such as scale), the general spelling rule is to drop the silent e. Therefore, the silent e at the end of scale is omitted before adding the suffix, resulting in scalable.

Explanation

Sentence B serves as the ideal introduction to the paragraph as it sets the context by announcing the raft of further restrictive economic measures imposed on Russia by the US, UK, and European allies. Sentence D logically follows sentence B by specifying the first of these measures, which is blocking selected Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system. Sentence A connects directly to sentence D using the transition phrase "They also resolved to", which introduces the next major restrictive measure targeting the Russian central bank's foreign exchange reserves. Sentence C concludes the paragraph by describing the immediate impact of "these moves" (the actions detailed in sentences D and A) on the Russian economy and the depreciation of the Rouble, completing a coherent and logical flow of B-D-A-C.

Explanation

The word defile means to make something dirty, impure, or polluted, or to desecrate something sacred. The word purify means to remove contaminants from something or to make it clean and pure, making it the direct antonym of defile.

Explanation

Exorcise (sometimes printed as exercise) means to drive out, banish, or force out an evil spirit or unwanted influence, typically by ritual or authority. Consequently, expel is its direct synonym as it also means to force out or eject someone or something.

Explanation

The preposition on is used to describe being connected to a communication network or using a device. The phrase on the phone is a standard English idiom used to indicate that someone is currently engaged in a telephone conversation. Therefore, the correct preposition to substitute in this context is on, making the sentence Who is talking on the phone? grammatically correct.

Explanation

The word squalid refers to something that is extremely dirty, filthy, or foul, often as a result of neglect. The direct antonym of squalid is clean, which means free from dirt, marks, or pollution. Since the sentence describes a bed in a highly unpleasant and dirty condition, clean serves as the most appropriate opposite.

Explanation

The word Athiest is misspelled. The correct spelling is Atheist, which is derived from the Greek prefix a- meaning without and theos meaning god, followed by the suffix -ist. The correct spelling places the letter e before i.

Explanation

The term segmentation refers to the division of something into separate parts or sections. In the context of the passage, treating school education holistically implies viewing it as a continuous, unified process rather than dividing it into isolated stages. Therefore, the word segmentation perfectly fits the blank, indicating that the educational journey from pre-nursery to Class 12 is addressed as a single, cohesive continuum under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, without fragmented divisions.

Explanation

The sentence structure uses the present perfect tense in the passive voice, indicated by the auxiliary verbs "has been". This grammatical construction requires a past participle (V3) verb form to complete it. The word "prepared" is the past participle form that correctly completes this passive construction, indicating that the program Samagra Shiksha was formulated or designed with the specific objective of improving school effectiveness.

Explanation

In the given context, the noun opportunities is followed by the preposition for to indicate the recipient or purpose of those opportunities. The phrase equal opportunities for schooling is a standard English collocation denoting that everyone is provided with the same chance to receive an education. This is also aligned with the official scheme document of Samagra Shiksha, which defines its broader goal as improving school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes.

Explanation

The official text of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4.1 (SDG 4.1) states: "By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes." The present participle "leading" is grammatically required here to form a participial phrase that modifies "primary and secondary education," indicating the direct result or outcome of that education.

Explanation

The sentence refers to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.5, which officially aims to eliminate gender disparities in education. The term disparities refers to unequal treatment, differences, or imbalances between genders in access to education, which the global development agenda seeks to remove by 2030 to ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training.

Explanation

The given sentence is in the active voice and uses the past perfect tense, following the structure: Subject (The lawyer) + had + past participle (presented) + Object (the facts of the case) + adverb (well).

To convert a past perfect active voice sentence into the passive voice, the structure is transformed to: New Subject (The facts of the case) + had been + past participle (presented) + adverb (well) + by + New Agent (by the lawyer).

Applying this rule directly gives: The facts of the case had been presented well by the lawyer.

Explanation

The adverb frantically means doing something in a hurried, anxious, and chaotic manner, typically because of panic, urgency, or fear of being late. In the context of catching a train, racing frantically towards it perfectly conveys the desperate and rushed effort to avoid missing the train.

Explanation

The word afflict means to cause pain, suffering, or trouble to someone or something. In the context of diseases like Verminosis and Mastitis affecting domestic cattle, afflict is the most appropriate synonym for damage because it describes the harmful physical impact and suffering caused by these illnesses.

Explanation

The word hapless is an adjective used to describe someone or something that is unfortunate, unlucky, or plagued by bad luck. In the context of an event or occurrence, it signifies an occurrence that is marked by misfortune. The term ill-fated directly shares this meaning, referring to something destined to have an unhappy or disastrous outcome, making it the perfect synonym.

Explanation

The indefinite article "a" is used before words that begin with a consonant sound. In the phrase "long weekend", the adjective "long" begins with the consonant sound /l/, making "a" the grammatically correct choice to introduce the singular countable noun phrase.

Explanation

The sentence describes an event that took place in the past, as indicated by the specific time marker last summer. In English grammar, actions completed at a definite time in the past require the simple past tense. Therefore, the base verb attend must be conjugated to its past tense form, attended, to ensure tense consistency. Additionally, the plural subject thirty delegates correctly agrees with the plural past-tense verb were.

Explanation

The sentence is completely free of any spelling or grammatical errors. All words, including the plural nouns flies, mosquitoes, and stages, are spelled correctly and used in their proper grammatical context.

Explanation

The sentence compares Simba and Snowy with the other puppies. When comparing two entities or groups using the conjunction "than", the comparative degree of the adjective must be used. For short, one-syllable adjectives that end in "e" like "cute", the comparative form is created by simply adding the suffix "-r", resulting in "cuter".

Explanation

The noun wonderment is defined as a state of awed admiration or respect, making it the most appropriate substitute for the underlined phrase. Other options do not capture the exact meaning or grammatical function required by the sentence.

Explanation

The phrasal verb "ask someone out" is a standard English collocation that means to invite someone on a date, typically because you are romantically interested in them or like them. In the context of the sentence, liking the person a lot provides the direct reason for inviting them on a date, making "asked" the correct verb to complete this phrasal expression.

Explanation

The idiom "snail's pace" originates from the physical characteristics of a snail, which is one of the slowest-moving creatures on Earth. When something is described as moving or progressing at a snail's pace, it means it is happening at an extremely slow rate.

Explanation

The use of the adverb "hopefully" indicates a wish or expectation for an event to happen, which is naturally projected forward in time. Furthermore, the verb phrase "will return" uses the simple future tense, which grammatically and contextually requires a time reference that lies ahead. Thus, the noun "future" is the only grammatically and logically consistent choice to fill the blank.

Explanation

The active voice sentence is in the simple past tense, following the structure: Subject + past tense verb (V₂) + Object.

To convert a simple past tense sentence into passive voice, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence, and the structure used is: Subject + was/were + past participle (V₃) + by + Object.

In this sentence, the singular subject "the question paper" takes the auxiliary verb "was", which is followed by the past participle form of "gave", which is "given", and the agent "by the teacher". This yields the correct passive sentence.

Explanation

The phrase "cleave to" is a literary idiomatic expression meaning to stick, cling, or adhere closely to something. In this context, it describes the physical sensation of having an extremely dry mouth, typically caused by intense fear, shock, or nervousness, where the tongue literally feels stuck to the roof of the mouth, rendering the person unable to speak.

Explanation

A polyglot is a person who is able to speak, write, or understand several different languages fluently. The term is derived from the Greek words poly, which means many, and glotta, which means tongue or language. This perfectly describes someone who knows and fluently speaks multiple languages such as French, Dutch, and English.

Explanation

This sequence aligns with the opening lines of the classic short story A Visit of Charity by Eudora Welty. The paragraph begins with part b, which establishes the scene by describing the time of day and the weather. It is followed by part c, which introduces the subject of the sentence, a fourteen-year-old girl carrying a potted plant. Part a provides the action of the subject, describing how she jumped off the bus in front of the old woman's home. Finally, part d adds a prepositional phrase that describes the location of the home on the outskirts of town, completing a coherent and grammatically correct narrative.

Explanation

The word "Knowlege" is incorrectly spelt as it is missing the letter d. The correct spelling is "Knowledge", while all other words in the options are spelt correctly.

Explanation

The word businessman is formed from the adjective busy, the suffix ness, and the noun man. In the original exam sentence, this word was misspelled with a double s in the first syllable as bussinessman. The correct spelling is businessman, which contains only a single s in the first syllable.

Explanation

The idiom to take something with a pinch of salt, or a grain of salt, means to view a statement or piece of information with skepticism and not accept it as completely true or accurate. It implies maintaining a healthy level of doubt regarding the absolute truth or value of what is being said.

Explanation

The phrase purely incidental is a standard legal disclaimer and English collocation commonly used in books, movies, and other creative works. In this context, the adverb purely acts as an intensifier meaning entirely or completely. It is conventionally paired with the adjective incidental to assert that any similarity between a fictional character and a real person is entirely coincidental and completely unintentional.

Explanation

The paragraph begins with sentence C, which introduces a general and universal observation that children love to listen to stories about their elders.

Sentence A directly follows C by utilizing the transition phrase "It was in this spirit" to connect the general observation to the specific scene of the narrator's children gathering around to hear about their great-grandmother Field and her large house in Norfolk.

Sentence D follows A to provide specific details about this house, describing the wood carving of the story of the children and their cruel uncle on the chimney-piece of the great hall and its replacement by a foolish rich person.

Sentence B concludes the sequence by describing Alice's reaction, showing "one of her dear mother's looks," in response to the narrator's mention in D of the wood carving being replaced by a modern marble chimney-piece. This structural sequence CADB corresponds to the opening passage of Charles Lamb's essay Dream-Children; A Reverie.