SSC CHSL Tier 1 2023 English Comprehension Questions with Solutions

Explanation

An antigen is any foreign substance, typically a protein or polysaccharide on the surface of a pathogen, that the immune system recognizes as a threat. When introduced into the body, an antigen triggers an immune response, specifically stimulating the production of specialized proteins called antibodies to neutralize the threat. The term itself is a contraction of antibody generator, making it the precise scientific term for the subpart of a pathogen that causes antibody formation.

Explanation

Antibodies are specialized, Y-shaped proteins produced by the body's immune system to identify and neutralize foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses. When an antigen enters the body, the immune system is stimulated to produce these antibodies to defend against infection, making them a critical component of the immune system.

Explanation

The passage uses a military metaphor to describe the body's immune response, referring to the protective mechanism as a defence system that fights off foreign invaders. Within this context, antibodies are specialized proteins produced by the immune system to actively target, attack, and neutralize harmful pathogens. Comparing antibodies to soldiers perfectly fits this defense-based analogy, as they serve as the active combatants defending the body from disease.

Explanation

The word interrogation is spelled with a double r. It is derived from the Latin interrogatus, which is the past participle of interrogare, where the prefix inter- is combined with rogare, meaning to ask, resulting in the double r spelling.

Explanation

The word occasionally is an adverb meaning now and then or at infrequent intervals. It is derived from the noun occasion, which is spelled with a double c and a single s. When forming the adjective occasional and subsequently the adverb occasionally, the suffix -ly is added to the adjective, resulting in a double l. Therefore, the correct spelling requires double c, single s, and double l.

Explanation

The error lies in the use of the adjective careful instead of the adverb carefully. The word is used to modify the verb to plan, describing how the action of planning should be performed. In English grammar, an adverb is required to modify a verb, whereas an adjective modifies a noun. Therefore, careful must be replaced with carefully to make the sentence grammatically correct.

Explanation

In the context of publishing, when new books are printed and made available to the public for purchase or reading, they are said to be "released." Therefore, "the newly released books" is the semantically correct and contextually appropriate phrase to describe books added to a personal library.

Explanation

The paragraph follows a natural chronological and thematic progression. It begins by introducing the museum exhibit and its collection of ancient artifacts. It then describes the public reception and admiration of these items by visitors. This is followed by the museum director's sense of pride in curating the successful display. The narrative takes a dramatic turn when a visitor claims to recognize a stolen piece, which directly triggers the director's shock and promise of a thorough investigation in response to the claim. This sequence creates a logical and cohesive story flow from introduction to complication.

Explanation

The word witty describes someone or something that is clever, amusing, and characterized by quick verbal humor and playfulness. The direct antonym of this is serious, which refers to a state or temperament that is solemn, grave, thoughtful, and completely devoid of humor or lightheartedness.

Explanation

The word abominable means extremely unpleasant, offensive, or detestable. Obnoxious is defined as highly objectionable, offensive, or extremely unpleasant, making it the closest synonym in meaning to describe disagreeable table manners.

Explanation

A fatalist is an individual who believes that all events are predetermined by fate and are therefore inevitable. This philosophical perspective, known as fatalism, suggests that human actions cannot alter the course of future events, as everything that transpires is governed by a destiny beyond human control.

Explanation

The phrase contains a grammatical error in participle usage. The noun investigation is the receiver of the action rather than the performer, which requires the passive past participle conducted instead of the active present participle conducting. The sentence should correctly read as The investigation conducted by the research team to properly establish that the research team carried out the investigation.

Explanation

The idiom "a hard nut to crack" refers to a problem that is highly difficult to solve, or a person or situation that is very hard to understand, deal with, or overcome. The metaphor is derived from a nut with a tough outer shell that requires substantial effort and strength to break open.

Explanation

The word "unfavourable" means adverse, disadvantageous, or harmful, particularly in a way that hinders success or survival. Its direct opposite is "advantageous", which means providing an advantage, beneficial, or favorable to success. In the context of natural selection, traits that are not helpful (unfavourable) contrast directly with those that assist in survival and reproduction (advantageous).

Explanation

The sentence begins with the introductory participial phrase "born in Newark, New Jersey" (Q), which describes the subject "Crane" introduced in part P ("Crane was the fourteenth child of a methodist minister"). The relative clause "who named him after an ancestor" (S) directly follows and modifies "a methodist minister" in part P, as it was the minister who named the child. Finally, the relative clause "who had signed the declaration of independence" (R) modifies "an ancestor" at the end of part S. Putting these parts together in the sequence Q-P-S-R creates the grammatically correct and coherent sentence: "Born in Newark, New Jersey, Crane was the fourteenth child of a methodist minister who named him after an ancestor who had signed the declaration of independence."

Explanation

The sentence expresses a hypothetical, contrary-to-fact condition. In English grammar, the subjunctive mood is used to explore hypothetical situations, wishes, or conditions that are contrary to reality. Under the subjunctive mood, the verb "were" is used for all subjects, including first-person singular pronouns like "I", instead of "was". Therefore, "were" is the grammatically correct form to use in the conditional clause "If I were you".

Explanation

The word viability refers to the ability of a business or project to survive, grow, succeed, and remain sustainable in the long run, representing a strength or positive asset. Its most appropriate antonym in this context is liability, which refers to a disadvantage, drawback, debt, or something that acts as a financial or operational burden, hindering success.

Explanation

The active voice sentence is in the simple present tense (teaches). To convert a simple present tense sentence into passive voice, the structure is: Subject (original object) + is/am/are + past participle (V3) of the verb + by + Agent (original subject). Since the plural subject "the boys" takes the auxiliary verb "are" and the past participle of "teach" is "taught", the correct passive form is "The boys are taught by Mr. Hamel."

Explanation

The idiom "few and far between" is used to describe things that are very rare, infrequent, or do not happen very often. In the given sentence, the visits to the family are described as "very rare" due to living out of the country, making this idiom the perfect match to convey that the occurrences of these visits are scarce and widely spaced in time.

Explanation

The term supernatural refers to things that are beyond the observable, natural universe or transcend the laws of nature, often associated with extraordinary or paranormal phenomena. The antonym of this concept is something that conforms to the common, everyday order of nature and is standard, expected, or ordinary, which is represented by the word usual.

Explanation

In subject-verb agreement, when a singular subject is accompanied by a parenthetical expression introduced by "not", the verb must agree with the primary subject rather than the noun within the parenthetical phrase. In this sentence, the primary subject is "Ravi", which is singular, while "not his friends" is parenthetical. Therefore, the relative pronoun "who" refers to the singular noun "Ravi" and requires the singular verb "was" instead of the plural verb "were". The correct form is "who was shouting".

Explanation

The verb affects means to influence or have an impact on something or someone. In the context of the sentence, unemployment is a major issue that actively impacts or produces an effect on millions of people across India, making affects the grammatically and semantically correct choice to describe this relationship.

Explanation

The sentence discusses the struggle of India's economy to generate a sufficient quantity of jobs to match the demands of its rapidly growing population. The word enough means as much or as many as required, which perfectly fits the context of meeting the job requirements of an expanding population.

Explanation

The preposition "across" is used to describe a distribution or variation throughout a diverse range of areas or groups. In this context, "varies widely across different states and regions" correctly expresses that the rates of unemployment differ throughout the entire geographical expanse of India from one state or region to another.

Explanation

The sentence discusses the challenges faced by highly educated young people who lack the specific skills and experience required to actively participate and succeed in a highly competitive job market. The verb compete means to strive consciously to establish superiority over others in a contest or market, which directly aligns with the context of a competitive job market.

Explanation

The term social unrest is a standard collocation used to describe collective, disruptive activities such as protests, riots, or public disturbances arising from widespread discontent. In the context of the passage, the severe economic and social consequences of unemployment—alongside poverty and crime—directly lead to a breakdown of public order and increased societal dissatisfaction, making unrest the most logically and grammatically appropriate fit to complete the sentence.

Explanation

The word makeshift refers to something serving as a temporary, quick, or substitute measure, typically used in place of the usual or proper thing until a permanent solution is found. The word provisional likewise describes something arranged or existing only for the present time, with the expectation of being changed or replaced later. Both terms carry the core meaning of being temporary and subject to future replacement.

Explanation

The word ambitious describes having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed or achieve a high position. In the given sentence, aspires is the verb form that means to direct one's hopes, ambitions, or efforts toward achieving a specific goal, such as becoming a diplomat. Both words share the core semantic meaning of striving toward a grand objective, making aspires the most appropriate synonym in this context.

Explanation

The word ignominious means deserving or causing public disgrace, shame, or dishonor. Reprehensible means deserving censure, condemnation, or being morally disgraceful. In the context of the sentence, Ranjith's fall for a petty material benefit represents a shameful and disgraceful act, making reprehensible the most appropriate substitute for ignominious.

Explanation

A fundraiser is defined as an individual, event, or organization that raises money for a particular cause, campaign, or charity.

Explanation

The word better is the comparative form of the adjective good. Since better already expresses a comparative degree, placing more before it is redundant and grammatically incorrect. Using only better maintains grammatical correctness while expressing the intended comparison between the two restaurants.

Explanation

The active voice sentence "The teacher did not allow the students to leave the lecture" is in the simple past tense.

To convert a simple past tense sentence from active to passive voice, the structure is: Object of the active sentence + was/were + past participle of the main verb + by + Subject of the active sentence.

Here, the plural object "the students" becomes the subject and takes the auxiliary verb "were". The past participle of "allow" is "allowed", and the negative "did not" converts to "were not". This results in the passive construction: "The students were not allowed to leave the lecture by the teacher."

Explanation

The idiom "ins and outs" refers to the detailed, intricate, or private facts, workings, and secrets of a specific situation, organization, or family. Since servants are privy to the private affairs and hidden aspects of the household they work in, they know all these detailed secrets, making this expression the most appropriate replacement for the underlined segment.

Explanation

The segment "as journalist" contains a grammatical error because "journalist" is a singular countable noun. Singular countable nouns must be preceded by an article or a determiner when used in this context to refer to a profession. Therefore, the indefinite article "a" is required before the noun, making the correct phrasing "as a journalist".

Explanation

The paragraph follows a direct chronological sequence of events. Sentence A sets the scene by introducing the initial action of Isabel seeing a strange rabbit. Sentence B begins with the phrase "Following it", where the pronoun "it" refers directly back to the rabbit introduced in sentence A, making B the logical continuation of the action. Sentence C begins with "After that", which refers to the action of opening the door in sentence B, and describes the physical sensation she experienced immediately after. Sentence D concludes the sequence by describing her mental reaction to that physical sensation, where she felt as if she was in a dream. This establishes a clear, cohesive narrative flow in the order of A, B, C, and D.

Explanation

The word stared means to look fixedly and intently with wide-open eyes for a prolonged period. The antonym peeked means to look quickly, furtively, or to appear briefly and partially, which represents a short and limited look rather than a continuous and intense gaze. This also fits the context of the sun emerging slightly from behind the clouds.

Explanation

The homophone "raze" means to completely destroy or level a building or site to the ground, which perfectly fits the context of clearing old buildings for new construction.

Explanation

The paragraph follows a logical and chronological sequence of events. Sentence A introduces the main subject, which is the highly anticipated new movie. Sentence D logically follows Sentence A by describing the immediate real-world effect of this anticipation, which is the packed movie theatre with people eager to see it, where the pronoun "it" directly refers back to "the new movie". Sentence B transitions the narrative to the moments right before the screening starts, depicting the lights dimming and the audience falling silent. Finally, Sentence C concludes the sequence chronologically as the movie begins with an exciting action sequence.

Explanation

The word suspicion is a noun that refers to a feeling or belief that someone is guilty of an illegal, dishonest, or unpleasant act, or that something is true, without definite proof. It is derived from the Latin suspicio, which comes from suspicere, meaning to look up at or mistrust. The correct spelling of the word is suspicion, which contains a single s at the beginning, followed by u, s, p, i, c, i, o, and n.

Explanation

The idiom "queer fish" is an established expression used to describe a person who is strange, eccentric, or unusual in their behavior or attitude. In the given sentence, it perfectly substitutes the underlined phrase "a strange person" to convey that Shruti has an eccentric personality.

Explanation

The correct grammatical sequence starts with the subject and verb phrase "now he knows" (D), followed by the direct object "the importance" (A). This is naturally followed by the prepositional phrase "of treating other people" (C) which specifies what the importance refers to. The adverbial clause of comparison "as he would like" (E) followed by the infinitive passive "to be treated" (B) completes the sentence by describing how others should be treated. Combined, they form the coherent sentence: "Now he knows the importance of treating other people as he would like to be treated."

Explanation

Aristocracy refers to a form of government in which power is vested in a small, privileged ruling class, typically consisting of the hereditary nobility. The term originates from the Greek words aristos, meaning best, and kratos, meaning rule or power, signifying rule by the elite or noble class.

Explanation

An epidemic is defined in epidemiology as the rapid and widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community, population, or region at a particular time. It denotes a situation where a substantially large number of individuals or animals are affected by and suffer from the same illness simultaneously, exceeding normal expectancy.

Explanation

The active voice sentence is in the simple present tense, which follows the structure: Subject + verb in simple present + Object. To convert this into passive voice, the structure changes to: Object + is/am/are + past participle of the main verb + by + Subject. Applying this rule, "the homework" becomes the new subject, the verb "assigns" is converted to "is assigned" because the subject is singular, and the agent "the professor" is introduced by "by", resulting in the correct passive construction.

Explanation

The word akused is misspelled in the given sentence. The correct spelling is accused, which refers to a person or group of people charged with a crime or wrongdoing.

Explanation

The word impeccable means having no flaws, faults, or imperfections, representing a perfect or spotless state. The word blemished serves as its direct antonym, meaning damaged, flawed, or spoiled by defects. Therefore, a blemished image is the exact opposite of an impeccable image.

Explanation

The context of the sentence highlights the critical necessity of upgrading the higher education sector, particularly through patents and cutting-edge research, to enhance India's global ranking. The word essential, meaning absolutely necessary or indispensable, perfectly fits the blank to convey that this upgrade is a fundamental requirement for achieving the desired improvement in rankings.

Explanation

The term economic development refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area. In the context of the passage, the development of human resources and the utilization of the demographic dividend are classic economic concepts directly linked to driving a nation's sustainable economic growth. A highly skilled and educated workforce serves as the backbone for productivity, innovation, and overall economic progress.

Explanation

The verb focus is grammatically and contextually appropriate in this sentence because it is collocated with the preposition on to mean directing attention, effort, or emphasis toward something. In the context of strategic policy documents like the 12th Five-Year Plan, plans and strategies naturally focus on specific priority areas such as technical education, distance learning, quality research, infrastructure, faculty, and curriculum content to achieve their developmental objectives.

Explanation

The word "Coordinated" is the most appropriate fit for blank 4 because it describes the organized, cooperative efforts required from both the government departments and the private sector to achieve the plan's educational goals.