SSC CHSL Tier 1 2023 English Comprehension Questions with Solutions

Explanation

The jumbled parts are arranged in the order DBCA to construct a grammatically correct and coherent sentence. The fixed introductory phrase, "As for the first historical fallacy," is followed by the main clause starting in D, "many people wrongly believe". This verb is complemented by the noun clause starting with "that" in B, "that the past was so different". The adjective "different" in B connects with the prepositional phrase in C, "from the present that", completing the comparison. Finally, the "so... that" correlative conjunction construction leads to the result clause in A, "only some specialists can unravel its inscrutable mysteries".

Explanation

The word hideous is defined as extremely ugly, shocking, or offensive to the senses. Similarly, repulsive means causing intense distaste, disgust, or aversion, making it the closest synonym in meaning.

Explanation

The relative pronoun whom is used incorrectly in this sentence and should be replaced with who. Who functions as a subject pronoun, whereas whom functions as an object pronoun. In this sentence, the pronoun refers to the old man, who is the subject of the main verb lives. Therefore, who is the correct pronoun to use.

Explanation

Correct Answer: D

The correct spelling of the word intended in this context is jeered, which means to mock, scoff, or make rude and insulting remarks. The spelling Jerred is incorrect as there is no such word in standard English, and it is a misspelling of jeered.

Explanation

Sentence B serves as the ideal introduction to the paragraph as it introduces the protagonist, John, and establishes the central conflict of his struggle to succeed in the highly competitive music industry. Sentence A naturally follows B by elaborating on these struggles, showing his persistence despite facing numerous setbacks and rejections. Sentence C then transitions to how he managed to overcome these hurdles by continuing to hone his craft with the support of a community. Finally, sentence D provides a logical conclusion to the narrative, using the transition word eventually to describe the successful outcome of his hard work, which culminated in landing a major record deal.

Explanation

A cannibal is defined as a person who eats the flesh of other human beings. The term also extends to any animal that consumes members of its own species.

Explanation

The word Acknowledgment is incorrectly spelt according to standard British English, which is the spelling convention followed in Indian competitive exams. The correct spelling is Acknowledgement, which retains the letter e after the g.

Explanation

A florist is a professional who specializes in the sale, care, and artistic arrangement of cut flowers and plants, typically operating in a retail flower shop. The suffix -ist denotes a person who practices or is concerned with something, in this case, flora, which refers to flowers and plant life.

Explanation

The given passive voice sentence is in the present perfect tense, indicated by the auxiliary verb structure have been stolen. When converting this sentence to the active voice, the implied agent becomes the subject. The indefinite pronoun somebody is singular, so it requires the singular auxiliary verb has. The structure of the present perfect active voice is subject + has/have + past participle of the verb + object, which yields Somebody has stolen my pencils.

Explanation

In the Harry Potter series, Harry is famously depicted as an orphaned boy who suffers severe neglect, emotional abuse, and cruel treatment from his maternal aunt Petunia, uncle Vernon Dursley, and cousin Dudley. They force him to live in a cupboard under the stairs, lock him up, and treat him with contempt. The word mistreated, which means to treat someone badly, cruelly, or unfairly, perfectly captures this abusive environment and relationship between Harry and his guardians during his childhood.

Explanation

The verb attend is the most appropriate word to fill in blank 2 because it means to go regularly to a school, college, or university as a student. In this context, Harry Potter receives an invitation to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to study magic, which makes attend the grammatically and contextually correct choice.

Explanation

The sentence discusses the false explanation Harry was given regarding the death of his parents. The verb perished means to die or lose one's life, particularly in a sudden, violent, or accidental manner. In this context, it correctly indicates that his parents did not die in a car accident.

Explanation

The word rebounding is the most appropriate choice because it means to bounce back or reflect after hitting a surface. In the Harry Potter narrative, Voldemort's killing curse did not kill Harry; instead, due to the protective shield of his mother's sacrifice, the spell rebounded off baby Harry and struck Voldemort himself, causing the curse to backfire and leaving Harry with his signature scar.

Explanation

The word pompous means affectedly grand, solemn, or self-important, characterized by an exaggerated show of dignity or importance. The word modest is the direct antonym, as it means unassuming, humble, or moderate in the estimation of one's abilities and achievements.

Explanation

The word symbolise is incorrectly spelt in contexts where standard American English spelling is required, where the correct spelling is symbolize. The verb symbolize means to represent, stand for, or be a symbol of something.

Explanation

When comparing two entities, the comparative degree of the adjective must be used followed by the conjunction than. The comparative form of the adjective young is younger. Therefore, comparing him with his brother requires younger than to establish a grammatically correct comparison.

Explanation

The word enthusiastic means showing intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval. The word casual refers to being relaxed, unconcerned, or showing a lack of deep interest or commitment. Therefore, casual serves as the most appropriate antonym as it represents a state of indifference or lack of enthusiasm.

Explanation

The given sentence is in the passive voice, structured in the simple past tense (was + past participle "talked"). To convert it into the active voice, the agent "the officers" becomes the subject of the sentence, the simple past passive verb "was talked about" changes to its active simple past form "talked about", and the passive subject "this" becomes the direct object. This conversion yields the active voice sentence: "The officers talked about this in the meeting."

Explanation

The sentence requires the standard subject-verb-adjective word order for clauses introduced by a dummy subject. The construction it is + adjective + that-clause is used to express a clear fact, where it acts as the dummy pronoun and evident serves as the predicate adjective. Rearranging the inverted phrase to it is evident that a lot more women establishes the correct grammatical structure and maintains the natural flow of the sentence.

Explanation

The word bleak means lacking in warmth, life, or hope, and is characterized by a dismal, depressing, or dreary outlook. Similarly, gloomy describes a state of sadness, depression, or desolation. Both words share the core meaning of being filled with melancholy and devoid of cheer or optimism, making them synonyms in this context.

Explanation

The correct spelling of the word is contestants. A contestant is a person who takes part in a contest or competition. The word is derived from the verb contest, and the standard suffix used to denote a person performing the action is -ant, which pluralizes to -ants. Therefore, contestants is the grammatically and orthographically correct word to complete the sentence.

Explanation

The word elusive describes something that is difficult to find, define, capture, or pin down, often characterized by vagueness, ambiguity, or uncertainty. The word definite means clearly defined, certain, precise, and unambiguous. Therefore, definite is the direct antonym as it represents something clear and distinct, which is the exact opposite of being elusive or hard to grasp.

Explanation

The active voice sentence features the modal verb "must" followed by the base verb "complete" and the object "the assignment". To convert a sentence with a modal verb into the passive voice, the structure changes to: Object + modal verb + be + past participle of the verb + by + Subject.

Applying this rule, the object "the assignment" becomes the subject, "must complete" is converted to "must be completed", and the original subject "the students" is introduced as the agent using "by". The adverbial phrase "by Friday" remains to indicate the deadline. This produces the grammatically correct passive sentence.

Explanation

A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction by providing an alternative reaction pathway with a lower activation energy, without undergoing any permanent chemical change or being consumed during the process.

Explanation

The idiom to give birth means to bear a child or bring forth offspring. In the context of the sentence, the phrase gave birth is the standard and grammatically correct expression to describe the delivery of a baby boy.

Explanation

The term pin money is an idiomatic expression that refers to an allowance of money, typically given to a person for their private or personal use to cover small, minor expenses. This directly matches the meaning of personal use allowance in the context of the sentence.

Explanation

The word repeal means to officially revoke, cancel, or rescind a law, decision, or agreement. Its antonym must denote the act of formally accepting, confirming, or sanctioning something. Approval represents the formal agreement, sanction, or official acceptance of an act or decision, making it the direct opposite in meaning to repeal.

Explanation

The correct order of the jumbled parts forms a grammatically correct and coherent sentence: Engaging in physical activity on a regular basis can improve cardiovascular health, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and boost mental health.

In this arrangement, part P acts as the gerund subject of the sentence. It is immediately modified by the adverbial phrase of frequency in part O, on a regular basis, followed by the modal verb phrase can improve. Part R provides the first direct object, cardiovascular health, and introduces the second parallel verb, reduce. Part Q completes the parallel structure with the object of reduce, which is the risk of chronic diseases, and adds the final parallel verb phrase, and boost mental health. This structure maintains perfect grammatical parallelism where the modal verb can distributes across the three verbs: improve, reduce, and boost.

Explanation

Arranging the jumbled parts in the sequence of D, A, C, E, B forms the grammatically correct and coherent sentence: "He is so rude to his neighbours that no one even knows that his first name is Adam."

In this structure, the main clause begins with the subject and verb "he is" followed by the intensifier and adjective "so rude" and its prepositional target "to his neighbours". This is followed by the correlative conjunction "that" to introduce the clause of result "no one even knows", which in turn takes the noun clause "that his first name is Adam" as its object.

Explanation

The phrase "use to" is grammatically incorrect when referring to a past habit or state. The correct expression is "used to", which is always written in the past tense with a 'd' when describing actions that happened regularly in the past but no longer do. Since the sentence refers to a past period of life, the segment must be corrected to "I used to".

Explanation

The idiom bring to book means to hold someone accountable, demand an explanation for their misconduct, or punish them for a wrongdoing or negligence. The phrase originates from the practice of recording official charges or financial discrepancies in a ledger or book of record for formal investigation. This aligns directly with the manager being punished for negligent work.

Explanation

Nostalgia is defined as a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past, typically associated with personal experiences or childhood memories.

Explanation

In linguistics, a corpus is a large and structured set of texts, containing both written and spoken language, that is compiled for the purpose of qualitative and quantitative analysis, research, and natural language processing.

Explanation

The term empire is used metaphorically in business to describe a large, powerful, and extensive commercial organization under the control of a single leader or corporation. Since Walt Disney built a massive, globally influential conglomerate consisting of film studios, theme parks, media networks, and consumer products, the term entertainment empire is the most appropriate collocation and contextually accurate choice to describe the scale and reach of his creation.

Explanation

The context of the passage discusses how Mickey Mouse's iconic round ears have become one of the most globally identified and famous logos in the world. The word recognisable perfectly fits this meaning, as it describes something that is easily identified or known from previous encounters or fame.

Explanation

Walt Disney was actively involved in creating cartoon characters and producing short films that combined live-action footage with animated images. Since his work focused on bringing drawn characters to life through the process of animation, he is best described as a young animator during this period of his career.

Explanation

The term striking is the correct choice because strike a deal is a standard English idiom that means to reach, conclude, or finalize a business agreement. In the context of the passage, Walt Disney reached a mutual business agreement with Universal in 1927 to produce a new animated series, making the participle striking the grammatically and collocationally appropriate word to fill the blank.

Explanation

The word apparently means as far as one knows or can see, or seemingly based on the available evidence. In this context, it is used to describe how the name Oswald was chosen, indicating that according to historical accounts or common belief, the name was selected at random from a hat of names.

Explanation

The sentence compares one person against a group consisting of everyone else ("of all"), which requires the superlative degree of comparison. For multi-syllable adjectives like "reliable", the superlative degree is formed by placing "least" (for the lowest degree) or "most" (for the highest degree) before the adjective, preceded by the definite article "the". Thus, "the least reliable person of all" is grammatically correct and requires no substitution.

Explanation

The word ravishing is an adjective used to describe someone or something that is extremely beautiful, delightful, or attractive. In the given sentence, the word stunning is used as an adjective meaning extremely impressive or attractive, making it the direct synonym of ravishing in this context.

Explanation

The phrase experimenting with different techniques is the most appropriate substitute for trying with various methods and mediums in the context of an artist perfecting her craft. In artistic terms, experimenting aligns perfectly with the creative process of testing and exploring new ways of expression, while techniques is the standard and most precise term used to describe the specific methods, skills, or styles an artist employs to create their work. This substitution maintains the original meaning of the sentence while enhancing its stylistic and contextual accuracy.

Explanation

The word Calendr is misspelled. The correct spelling is Calendar, which refers to a chart or series of pages showing the days, weeks, and months of a particular year.

Explanation

Correct Answer: D

The given sentence is in the passive voice of the simple past tense, which follows the structure: By whom + was/were + object + past participle (V₃)?

To convert this into the active voice, the structure changes to: Who + past tense verb (V₂) + object?

Applying this rule, "By whom" changes to "Who", the passive verb form "was written" converts to the simple past active verb "wrote", and "this poem" remains the object. This gives the active voice sentence: "Who wrote this poem?".

Explanation

The term pell-mell means in a confused, rushed, or disorderly manner, characterized by a state of wild disorder or chaos. Derived from the Old French phrase pesle-mesle, it directly describes a state of utter disarray or great confusion, making it the most appropriate idiomatic replacement for the underlined segment in the context of the messy aftermath of a robbery.

Explanation

The verb expected fits the context of the sentence, which expresses a requirement, deadline, or obligation for the students. Using the passive construction "were expected to" correctly indicates that the students had a duty or responsibility to finish their assignment by the specified deadline of Friday.

Explanation

The word escalation is incorrectly spelled as Eskation. The correct spelling is escalation, which refers to an increase in the intensity or seriousness of something, such as a conflict or war.

Explanation

The jumbled parts are arranged to reconstruct a single coherent sentence from Stephen Crane's classic short story, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky.

The subject of the sentence is introduced in P as a man in a maroon colour flannel shirt. This is immediately followed by two relative clauses in R and S that describe the shirt, explaining that it was purchased for purposes of decoration (R) and made principally by some Jewish women on the East side of New York (S). After completing the description of the shirt, the sentence concludes with Q, which contains the main predicate and action of the sentence, stating that the man rounded a corner and walked into the middle of the main street of Yellow Sky. This sequence of P, R, S, and then Q forms a grammatically correct and meaningful sentence.

Explanation

The word bizarre is defined as very strange, unusual, or unconventional in style, appearance, or character. The word weird is a direct synonym that also describes something strikingly odd, bizarre, or out of the ordinary, making it the most appropriate choice to replace bizarre in the sentence.

Explanation

The word detests means to dislike intensely, abhor, or feel an extreme aversion to something. Loathes shares this exact meaning, representing a strong feeling of hatred, disgust, or deep aversion, making it the most appropriate synonym in the context of the sentence.

Explanation

The idiom whistle in the dark means to make a show of bravery or to try to keep up one's courage and confidence when facing a frightening, difficult, or uncertain situation. In the given sentence, the traveler is alone and fully aware of the upcoming dangers, making his attempt to maintain self-assurance a perfect example of whistling in the dark.