SSC CHSL Tier 1 2024 English Comprehension Questions with Solutions

Explanation

The preposition until is used to refer to time or a point in time, whereas spatial distance or reaching a physical destination requires a preposition of place, such as as far as or to. In this sentence, the last house of the town represents a physical location rather than a time limit, making the use of until grammatically incorrect. Replacing until with as far as or to corrects the error.

Explanation

The sentence uses the auxiliary verb "will" followed by the base verb "be" to form the simple future tense. This grammatical structure is used to state a future fact or an event that is certain to happen at a specific time in the future, which is indicated by the time adverbial "next Sunday".

Explanation

The phrasal verb fed up with means to be extremely annoyed, bored, or disappointed with a situation or someone's behavior that has continued for too long. In the context of the sentence, expressing annoyance or frustration regarding someone's complaints is grammatically and semantically appropriate, making fed up with the correct replacement.

Explanation

The segment "violent when" contains a grammatical error because the verb "behaving" must be modified by an adverb rather than an adjective. The adjective "violent" should be replaced with the adverb "violently" to correctly describe the manner of the action.

Explanation

In English, the standard and most appropriate verb collocation used with meals such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or supper to describe the act of consuming food is eating. In the context of the passage, Paul is in the middle of consuming his evening meal when Aunt Jenny begins questioning him, making eating the correct and natural fit for the blank.

Explanation

In English grammar, the standard collocation used for posing queries to someone is to ask questions. In this context, Aunt Jenny is posing deceitful inquiries to Paul, making asked the most appropriate verb to complete the sentence naturally and grammatically.

Explanation

The passage is an adaptation from Mark Twain's classic novel, where the character is described as being endowed with a natural ability or talent that enables her to uncover hidden secrets and trap the boy. The phrase "endowed with" is conventionally used to describe being blessed or gifted with an innate quality, such as a talent, making it the most grammatically and contextually appropriate fit for the blank.

Explanation

Paul felt an uncomfortable suspicion because Aunt Jenny's questions were described as full of deceit and designed to trap him. When faced with such leading and manipulative questions, a person naturally feels a sense of doubt or wariness regarding the speaker's true motives, making suspicion the most appropriate fit for the blank.

Explanation

In this context, Paul is trying to read Aunt Jenny's expression to understand if she knows he went swimming. To search someone's face means to look closely and intently at their facial features to detect any hidden thoughts, feelings, or intentions. Since Paul was looking for clues but her face ultimately informed him nothing, searched is the correct word to describe this close and analytical observation.

Explanation

The sentence uses the simple past tense in both the main clause (cried) and the subordinate adverb clause of time (burnt). Since the actions of burning the fingers and crying with pain both occurred in the past, the use of the past tense verb "burnt" is grammatically correct and maintains proper tense consistency throughout the sentence.

Explanation

The word trivial refers to something that is of little value, importance, or significance. The opposite of trivial is essential, which describes something of utmost importance, necessity, or crucial significance.

Explanation

Glory refers to high renown, honor, and public praise won by notable achievements. Its direct antonym is shame, which represents a state of disgrace, dishonor, or humiliation.

Explanation

Correct Answer: D

The idiom "like hot cakes" means to be disposed of, bought, or sold very rapidly and in large quantities, usually due to high demand. The phrase originates from the nineteenth century, referring to how quickly freshly baked hot, freshly made pancakes (or hotcakes) would sell at church bakaes and public events.

Explanation

The subject of the clause is the female ostrich, which is a singular noun. To maintain subject-verb agreement, a singular subject must be paired with a singular verb. In the simple present tense, which is used here to express a general belief or factual habit, the third-person singular verb form ends in s. Therefore, the singular verb guards is the correct form to agree with the singular subject, making guards the nest at night the grammatically correct substitution.

Explanation

The word conspicuous is an adjective that means clearly visible, prominent, or easily seen. When describing a physical feature like a spinal stripe on a skunk, it indicates that the stripe stands out and attracts attention. The word noticeable directly shares this meaning, as it describes something that is easy to see or observe, making it the perfect substitute to retain the original meaning of the sentence.

Explanation

The word joyless means completely devoid of joy, unhappy, or miserable. The word blissful means full of joy, extremely happy, or experiencing complete happiness. This makes it the direct antonym of joyless.

Explanation

The word ancient is the most appropriate synonym for antique when describing historical ruins. Both terms refer to objects, structures, or periods belonging to the very distant past. In the context of archaeological and historical remains, ancient precisely conveys the meaning of having existed for hundreds or thousands of years.

Explanation

The spelling error in this segment lies in the word yield, which is misspelled as yeild in the test question. According to the standard English grammar rule of i before e except after c, the correct spelling is yield, where the letter i must precede e.

Explanation

In English collocations, the adjective severe is the standard and most appropriate term used to describe intense or extreme physical pain. While other words can describe force or magnitude, pain of high intensity is conventionally and grammatically described as severe.

Explanation

The word support means to back up, advocate for, agree with, or assist someone. The word refute means to prove a statement, claim, or person to be wrong or false, or to contradict and oppose them. Therefore, refute serves as the direct antonym to support by representing the opposite action of backing or agreeing with someone.

Explanation

The idiom black and white, often used in the phrase in black and white, means in writing or in printed form. This expression originates from the practice of writing or printing with black ink on white paper, which provides a clear, permanent, and official record of an agreement, statement, or document that cannot be easily disputed or misunderstood.

Explanation

The noun pair refers to a set of two things. In the context of the sentence, a pair of apples correctly indicates that the speaker ate two apples for dinner.

Explanation

The adjective exceptional means outstanding, extraordinary, or unusually good. In the context of describing leadership qualities, exceptional ability is a standard and highly idiomatic English collocation used to denote leaders who possess remarkable and superior talent, skill, or capability.

Explanation

In English grammar, superlative adjectives such as "best" are used to compare three or more things and describe the extreme limit of a quality. Because a superlative adjective refers to a specific, unique item that holds the highest rank in a group, it must be preceded by the definite article "the". Therefore, "best book" requires "the" before it to make the sentence grammatically correct.

Explanation

The definite article "the" must be used before the names of unique scriptures, holy books, and classical epics. Since "Ramayana" is a famous epic, it should be written as "The Ramayana". The omission of the definite article in this part of the sentence makes it grammatically incorrect.

Explanation

In English grammar, when referring to a specific part of the body that is affected by an action, the definite article "the" is used instead of the indefinite article "a" or "an". In this sentence, the prepositional phrase "wounded in" should be followed by "the leg" rather than "a leg" because it refers to a specific, definite body part of the teacher. Thus, the segment "a leg" contains the grammatical error.

Explanation

The word living is the most appropriate adjective to modify the noun reptile in this context. It correctly describes the tuatara as an extant, surviving member of an ancient group of reptiles that has persisted from the Mesozoic era to the present day. This directly connects with the opening sentence of the passage, which introduces the animal as a living fossil.

Explanation

The blank requires a verb that denotes the physical growth and maturation of the tuatara to a specific size. The verb develops means to grow, mature, or progress to a more advanced or larger state, which accurately describes the process of the reptile reaching its adult physical length of approximately 60 cm.

Explanation

The word intriguing means fascinating, extremely interesting, or arousing curiosity. In the context of the passage, the presence of a third eye on a lizard is a highly unusual and fascinating biological characteristic. Therefore, describing this third eye as the lizard's most intriguing feature is the most grammatically and contextually appropriate choice to convey how this unique physical trait captures interest and curiosity.

Explanation

The adjective distinct means recognizably different in nature or character from something else. In this context, the preposition from typically collocates with distinct to indicate a clear difference in characteristics or structure. The passage uses distinct from to show that the dental structure of the tutaura is unique and differs from that of other reptiles, which is further explained by the specific arrangement of its teeth where the upper jaw has two rows and the lower jaw has only one row.

Explanation

In the context of animal reproduction, particularly for reptiles like the tuatara, eggs must undergo fertilization to develop. The term fertilised describes the biological process where the male and female gametes fuse, enabling the laid eggs to develop and eventually hatch into offspring. This makes it the biologically appropriate term to complete the sentence describing the reproductive cycle of the tuatara's eggs.

Explanation

The word austere means severe, strict, or uncompromising in attitude, behavior, or appearance. In the context of describing a disciplined high priest, it refers to someone who is grave, rigorous, and highly self-disciplined. Stern is a direct synonym of austere, as it also describes a person who is strict, serious, and severe in authority or temperament.

Explanation

The determiner "the little" is used to mean "not much, but all of that specific quantity." It is correctly used when followed by a defining relative clause, such as "that I knew of the English language", which specifies the exact, limited amount of knowledge being referred to. In this context, it indicates that the entirety of the small amount of English knowledge the speaker had was still insufficient to qualify them as a teacher.

Explanation

The preposition between is used when referring to relations between two distinct entities. When expressing a relation or comparison involving more than two people or things, such as all the contestants, the preposition among or amongst is grammatically correct. Using amongst appropriately denotes comparison within a collective group of multiple individuals.

Explanation

The word consent means to give permission, agreement, or assent for something to happen. The direct antonym of consent is refusal, which refers to the act of declining, denying, or rejecting a request, permission, or offer. Therefore, refusing to allow something is the exact opposite of consenting to it.

Explanation

The phrasal verb show on is incorrect in this context. The appropriate phrasal verb to express proudly displaying or boasting about one's possessions or abilities to attract admiration is show off. Substituting show off for show on makes the sentence grammatically correct and meaningful.

Explanation

The idiom best thing since sliced bread is a popular colloquial expression used to describe a person, invention, or idea that is exceptionally good, useful, or innovative. Sliced bread was first sold commercially in 1928 and was marketed as a major convenience, leading to the development of this phrase as a standard superlative to express high enthusiasm for something extremely good or interesting.

Explanation

The subject of the sentence is "The annual seed festival", which is singular. Therefore, it requires the singular verb "promotes" to maintain subject-verb agreement. Additionally, "traditional" is the correct adjective form required to modify the noun "knowledge", creating the standard noun phrase "traditional knowledge".

Explanation

The word sacred refers to something that is holy, dedicated to a religious purpose, or deserving of spiritual respect and veneration. The direct antonym of sacred is profane, which relates to things that are secular, non-religious, or characterized by irreverence and contempt for holy things.

Explanation

In the given sentence, the word hard describes a person who is harsh, unyielding, severe, and lacking in mercy or compassion. The word clement means mild, merciful, lenient, or compassionate in character or disposition, making it the direct antonym of hard when used to describe a person's temperament.

Explanation

The word ablaze is an adjective that means on fire, brightly burning, or glowing with light. The word burning is a direct synonym, as it similarly describes something that is on fire, undergoing combustion, or consumed by flames.

Explanation

The idiom "around the clock" means continuously throughout the entire twenty-four hours of the day, representing both day and night without stopping. The phrase visualizes the hands of a clock moving all the way around the dial to complete a full day's cycle.

Explanation

The spelling judgment is incorrect under standard British English guidelines, which are followed in Indian competitive examinations. The correct spelling is judgement, which retains the letter e after the g.

Explanation

The word vivid is used to describe a recollection or memory that is highly detailed, clear, and lifelike. The direct antonym of a clear and detailed memory is one that is unclear, indistinct, and imprecise, which is the definition of vague. Thus, vague is the most appropriate opposite in meaning to vivid in this context.

Explanation

The word alive is an adjective used to describe a state of having life, being active, or living. Its direct antonym is dead, which means no longer alive or devoid of life.

Explanation

In English grammar, the noun room is used as an uncountable noun to denote unoccupied space that is available or needed for a specific purpose, such as sitting on a bench. While place refers to a particular location or area, room specifically describes the capacity or space within an area to accommodate someone or something. Therefore, the phrase no room is the linguistically appropriate and idiomatic way to indicate that there is no available space left on the bench.

Explanation

In first conditional sentences, which refer to a possible future condition and its probable result, the conditional clause introduced by "if" must be in the simple present tense, while the main clause is in the simple future tense. Using "will" in the "if" clause is grammatically incorrect. Therefore, the future construction "will rain" must be replaced with the simple present tense verb "rains" to form the correct sentence: "If it rains tomorrow, I will stay at home."

Explanation

In economic and financial contexts, the word booming is a standard adjective collocating with economy to describe a period of rapid growth, expansion, and prosperity. A booming economy refers to a situation where business activity is increasing, employment is high, and there is significant growth in gross domestic product.

Explanation

The segment "Hard had she" is grammatically incorrect because it violates the standard correlative conjunction rule. The sentence requires the adverb "Hardly" to form the correct time-relation structure "Hardly... when", which indicates that one event happened immediately after another. Using "Hard" instead of "Hardly" in this inverted sentence structure is ungrammatical. Replacing "Hard" with "Hardly" corrects the error.

Explanation

The passage utilizes a botanical metaphor, referring to the period from 1858 to 1905 as the "seed time" of Indian nationalism. In the English language, the verb "sow" is the standard and most appropriate collocational partner for "seeds" when describing the act of planting them in the ground for growth. Therefore, "sowed" perfectly completes the metaphor "sowed the seeds well and deep" to describe how the early nationalists firmly established the foundational ideas of Indian nationalism.