SSC CHSL Tier 1 2024 English Comprehension Questions with Solutions

Explanation

The word titanic is derived from the Titans of Greek mythology, who were primeval deities of giant strength and size. In modern English, titanic is used as an adjective to describe something of exceptional strength, size, or power. Therefore, huge, which means extremely large, is the most appropriate synonym.

Explanation

The idiom "rift in the lute" refers to a small problem, disagreement, or defect that spoils the harmony of a relationship or situation, eventually leading to complete disharmony or division. The phrase originates from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem Merlin and Vivien, which describes how a small crack in a musical instrument (a lute) slowly ruins its music and silences it. Therefore, it is the most appropriate idiomatic expression to represent the disharmony brought among the family members.

Explanation

The word boisterous means rough, noisy, energetic, and wild. Its direct antonym is calm, which describes someone or something that is peaceful, quiet, gentle, and free from agitation or disturbance.

Explanation

The word besides means in addition to or apart from. In contrast, the word beside is a preposition that means at the side of or next to. Since the sentence refers to the physical location of a path next to the lake, the correct preposition to use is beside. Therefore, the segment besides the lake contains a grammatical error.

Explanation

The sentence is grammatically correct and free of errors. The noun Father is used correctly as a proper noun without an article when referring to one's own parent. The prepositional phrase in his hand is used appropriately, and the infinitive construction to go through correctly utilizes the phrasal verb go through, which means to read or examine something.

Explanation

The singular countable noun "policeman" cannot be used without a determiner or an article. To make the sentence grammatically correct, it must be preceded by an article, such as "A policeman" or "The policeman".

Explanation

The adverbial phrase "every day" indicates a habitual or repeated action. To express a past routine or habit, the simple past tense of the verb is used. The verb form "walked" is the simple past tense of "walk", which correctly establishes this habitual action in the past for the singular subject "Soorya".

Explanation

The metaphor of a golden key is conventionally used to describe the action of unlocking or opening a barrier. In this context, literacy is described as the key that opens the gates to a whole new world, symbolizing access to knowledge, opportunities, and personal growth.

Explanation

The metaphorical phrase "dawn of a new day" is a common English idiom used to signify the beginning of a new, hopeful, and promising era or period of time. In this context, literacy is described as a transformative force that brings about a completely new beginning for an individual or society, making "day" the most appropriate and natural word to complete the expression.

Explanation

The word worsened means to become worse, deteriorate, or decline in quality or health. The antonym of worsened is improved, which means to become better, make progress, or recover in health. Thus, in the context of Ralph's medical condition in the hospital, improved represents the direct opposite state of worsened.

Explanation

The passage discusses how the definition of literacy has been overly simplified to merely signing one's name rather than using a thumb impression. The word limited perfectly fits the blank because it describes this interpretation as narrow, restricted, and lacking depth. This meaning is directly reinforced in the very next sentence, which refers to this exact definition as a narrow meaning of the word. Thus, limited correctly aligns with the context of an incomplete and overly restricted understanding of literacy.

Explanation

The sentence discusses politicians making grand claims about the literacy rates in their states, mentioning achievements of "80 or 90 per cent literacy". The conjunction "or even" indicates an escalation to an even greater degree or percentage. Therefore, the word "higher" logically completes the climax of this progression, suggesting percentages beyond ninety percent.

Explanation

The sentence discusses the objective and aftermath of literacy training programs. The primary goal of such courses is to teach people basic reading and writing skills, thereby transforming them into literate individuals, which is expressed as being done to produce literates. This is directly supported by the subsequent clause which refers to these individuals as neo-literates (newly literate people) who eventually slide back into illiteracy once the course ends. Thus, the word literates fits the grammatical structure and the contextual meaning of the passage perfectly.

Explanation

Correct Answer: D

The word friendly describes someone who is kind, pleasant, and amicable towards others. The word hostile means showing or feeling opposition, dislike, or active unfriendliness, making it the direct antonym of friendly.

Explanation

The word hamper means to hinder, obstruct, or impede the progress or movement of someone or something. Its most appropriate antonym is help, which means to assist, facilitate, or make it easier for someone to do something or for a process to advance.

Explanation

The word indigenous refers to someone or something that originates, occurs, or lives naturally in a particular region or environment, being native to that place. Similarly, aboriginal describes people, plants, or animals that have existed in a region from the earliest times, especially before the arrival of colonists. Both words share the central meaning of being native or original to a specific geographic area, making them synonyms.

Explanation

In the English language, the verb commit is the standard collocational partner used with nouns representing illegal, immoral, or harmful acts, such as crime, murder, or theft. The phrase commit a crime is a fixed collocation meaning to carry out or perform an unlawful act.

Explanation

The sentence describes an action happening at the present moment, as indicated by the phrase "at the moment". To express an ongoing, continuous action in the passive voice in the present tense, the present continuous passive structure is required. This grammatical structure is formed using subject + is/am/are + being + past participle of the verb. Since the subject "it" is a singular pronoun, the correct form is "it is being painted".

Explanation

In adverbial clauses of time introduced by conjunctions such as when, as soon as, until, or before, the simple present tense is used instead of the future tense to refer to future actions. Therefore, the future auxiliary will arrive must be replaced with the simple present tense arrives to make the sentence grammatically correct.

Explanation

The idiom "a sting in the tail" refers to an unexpected, unpleasant, or problematic turn of events at the very end of a story, activity, or situation. This expression drawing from nature, specifically referring to creatures like scorpions that carry a venomous sting at the very end of their tails, signifying a painful surprise after one might think the encounter is over.

Explanation

The idiom "cost an arm and a leg" is a figurative expression used to describe something that is extremely pricey or exorbitant. It equates the monetary cost of an item to the invaluable worth of human limbs, signifying that a transaction requires an exceptionally high amount of money.

Explanation

The word magnificent is defined as extremely beautiful, elaborate, or impressive in appearance. The word splendid shares this exact meaning, referring to something that is magnificent, very impressive, or superb. Both words are used to describe things of outstanding grandeur, beauty, or scale, making them direct synonyms.

Explanation

The grammatical construction No sooner is always paired with the correlative conjunction than to introduce the event that occurred immediately after the first. Therefore, the phrase that it began to rain must be substituted with than it began to rain to ensure grammatical correctness and maintain the proper comparative relationship between the two closely timed events.

Explanation

The word astonishment is a direct synonym of amazement, both of which refer to a feeling of great surprise or wonder. In the context of receiving an unexpected and highly valuable diamond ring as a wedding gift, the feeling of being overwhelmed with surprise and wonder is appropriately expressed by astonishment.

Explanation

The correct spelling of the word is necessary, which is written with a single c and a double s. It is frequently misspelled by either doubling the c as neccessary or using a single s as necesary.

Explanation

The sentence requires a past-tense verb in the first blank to agree with the past-time adverb "Yesterday", which is "ate". The second blank requires a numeral to quantify the food items, which is "eight". Together, they form a grammatically correct sentence where the subject "he" consumed a quantity of eight pizza and burger items.

Explanation

The idiom "gift of the gab" refers to the ability to speak easily, eloquently, and persuasively. The word "gab" is a colloquial term meaning talk or chatter, which has historical roots in Middle English and Scottish Gaelic. A person who possesses this "gift" is highly articulate, charismatic, and skilled at engaging an audience or convincing others through spoken words, representing a natural talent for speaking.

Explanation

Correct Answer: D

The phrase facilitated a comprehensive understanding is the most appropriate substitution because it introduces the indefinite article a before the singular noun phrase comprehensive understanding, which is grammatically correct and idiomatic. Additionally, using the past tense facilitated maintains consistency with the past participle utilised, establishing a clear and coherent temporal frame for the completed study.

Explanation

The word sensation is the correct spelling of the noun that refers to a physical feeling or perception resulting from something that happens to or comes into contact with the body. It is derived from the Latin word sensus, meaning sense, and follows the standard English spelling pattern ending in -ation to denote a state or process of perceiving through the senses.

Explanation

The word abandon means to desert, discard, or give up completely. Conversely, adopt means to take up, accept, or assume care and responsibility for something or someone. Therefore, adopt represents the exact opposite action of abandoning, making it the most appropriate antonym.

Explanation

The word stingy is used to describe someone who is unwilling to give or spend money, resources, or help, acting in a miserly or ungenerous manner. The word generous represents the exact opposite quality, describing someone who is happy to share, give, or spend money and resources freely and selflessly. Therefore, generous is the most appropriate antonym for stingy.

Explanation

The phrasal verb ran into means to meet someone by chance or unexpectedly. In the context of the sentence, encountering someone unexpectedly on the way is logically and grammatically correct, meaning no substitution is necessary.

Explanation

To fasten means to close, secure, attach, or join something firmly together. To bolt means to fasten or secure something with a bolt or a similar locking mechanism, making it a direct synonym of fasten in the context of securing an object.

Explanation

The word "harsh" means unpleasantly severe, cruel, or demanding. In the context of corporate management, a decision by a CEO to cut employee benefits directly reduces the welfare and compensation of the workforce, making it a severe and unkind action that is best described as a harsh move.

Explanation

The subject-verb agreement rule requires a singular subject to take a singular verb. The pronoun "He" is a third-person singular subject, so it must be paired with the singular auxiliary verb "does" instead of the plural "do". Therefore, the segment "He do not" is grammatically incorrect and should be corrected to "He does not".

Explanation

The phrasal verb chase out is incorrect in this context as it means to force someone or something to leave a place. The appropriate phrasal verb for pursuing people who owe money is chase up, which means to contact someone to remind them to pay an outstanding debt, or chase down, which means to track down or locate someone. Therefore, the preposition out should be replaced with up or down to make the sentence grammatically and contextually correct.

Explanation

The phrase contains a grammatical error in the use of the indefinite article. The word "expensive" begins with a vowel sound, which requires the indefinite article "an" instead of "a". Therefore, the correct phrasing should be "an expensive city too".

Explanation

The definite article "the" is used in the first blank because the noun "road" is made specific by the modifying prepositional phrase "to Taj Mahal", which defines a particular road. The indefinite article "a" is used in the second blank because "forest" is a singular countable noun introduced in a general, non-specific sense.

Explanation

The word draconian means extremely harsh, severe, or cruel, especially when applied to laws, rules, or governmental measures. In the given context, the opposition is strongly criticizing the government's demonetization decision and demanding that the government roll it back. Describing the decision as a draconian law perfectly fits this negative and critical tone, aligning with the subsequent mention of severe criticisms being made against the move.

Explanation

The option "revengeful" is the only grammatically suitable adjective that fits the blank to describe the nature of the attacks (in the sense of retaliatory or counter-attacks) made by the government in response to the criticisms. The other options are either nouns that do not fit grammatically (case, example) or do not make sense in the context of the sentence (ineffectual).

Explanation

The word advanced refers to something that is far ahead in development, knowledge, or progress, or characterized by being highly developed. Progressive relates to making continuous forward movement, improvement, or embodying forward-thinking, modern, and highly developed ideas. Therefore, progressive serves as the most appropriate synonym for advanced in terms of representing growth, development, and modernization.

Explanation

The adjective strong naturally collocates with the noun urge to describe an intense or powerful impulse. In English, standard collocations are conventional word combinations, and strong urge is the established phrase used to denote a powerful feeling or desire that is difficult to control, such as the sudden impulse to yawn.

Explanation

When arranging multiple time and date expressions in a sentence, standard English grammar typically follows the rule of chronological specificity, moving from the most specific (smallest unit of time) to the most general (largest unit of time). In this structure, the precise time of day (at 10 a.m.) comes first, followed by the specific day of the month (on 13 July), and concludes with the year (in the year 1950). This order provides the most logical and natural flow for the reader.

Explanation

The word superior means of higher standard, rank, or quality. Its direct antonym is inferior, which means lower in station, quality, or value.

Explanation

The word precarious means not securely held or in position, dangerously likely to fall or collapse, or dependent on chance and uncertain. The appropriate antonym for precarious must represent stability, safety, or certainty. Reliable means consistently good in quality or performance, dependable, and able to be trusted, which directly contrasts with the instability and uncertainty of being precarious.

Explanation

The idiom "the silver lining in the cloud" refers to a consoling, hopeful, or positive aspect of an otherwise unpleasant, difficult, or negative situation. In the given sentence, contracting a severe illness like Covid represents the negative situation (the cloud), while developing immunity against future infections represents the positive outcome or benefit (the silver lining). This makes the idiom a perfect fit to substitute the words "the good thing".

Explanation

The verb add means to put together with something else so as to increase the quantity, size, or proportion. In this sentence, putting more sugar into the juice to increase its sweetness requires this specific verb.

Explanation

The preposition "for" is used to indicate a duration or period of time. In this sentence, "two months" represents a specific duration of time during which the speaker was in Oman, making "for" the grammatically correct choice to express this relationship.

Explanation

The word "allowed" is the past tense of the verb "allow", which means to permit or give permission to someone to do something. This fits the context of a father permitting his daughter to make a choice.

The word "course" refers to a program of study or a series of lectures on a particular subject, which correctly fits the context of a chemistry curriculum in a final academic year.

Explanation

The correct spelling of the word is "immediately", which means without delay or instantly. It is formed by adding the adverbial suffix "-ly" to the adjective "immediate". The word originates from the Late Latin "immediatus", where the prefix "im-" (meaning not) is combined with "mediatus" (meaning mediated or middle), necessitating the double "m" and the "-ely" ending.