SSC CHSL 2025 PYQs

Concept: Past reporting verb → shift tenses back; pronouns follow the speaker/listener.

1. said to → told; add 'that'.
2. have secured → had secured; are moving → were moving; now → then.
3. 'We' (general + soldiers) → 'they'.
4. Only B makes all changes.

Trick: Check one change at a time: option A keeps 'have', C keeps 'are now', D keeps 'we' – eliminate quickly.

Answer: (B) The general told the soldiers that they had secured the borders and were then moving toward the capital.

Concept: 'Engrossed' (fully absorbed) is always followed by 'in'.

1. Correct: She was so engrossed in her work …
2. 'with', 'by', 'on' do not collocate with engrossed.

Yaad rakhein: Words of deep attention take 'in': engrossed in, absorbed in, immersed in, lost in.

Answer: (C) in

Concept: Passive 'was made to + V1' → active 'made + object + V1' (no 'to').

1. Doer of the forcing = the officer → subject of the active sentence.
2. Witness becomes the object: The officer made the witness provide a statement.
3. A loses 'made', C reverses roles, D is still passive.

Trick: 'to' appears only in the passive of make/let; in the active, drop it: made him go, not made him to go.

Answer: (B) The officer made the witness provide a statement.

Concept: Past reporting verb: will → would; tomorrow → the next day.

1. 'will be repairing' → would be repairing.
2. 'tomorrow' → the next day; 'said' stays (no listener).
3. A keeps 'will', C wrongly adds 'have been', D keeps 'tomorrow'.

Trick: Fix two markers first – 'would' and 'next day'; only one option has both.

Answer: (B) The manager said that the technicians would be repairing the server the next day.

Concept: Correct spelling: countenance (face / facial expression).

1. A, C, D write 'countenance' correctly.
2. B writes 'countainance' – extra 'a' after 'count'.

Trick: Break it: count + en + ance → coun-te-nance.

Answer: (B) She had a sad countainance after hearing the disappointing news.

Concept: Present continuous passive: is/are + being + V3.

1. Object 'an interactive program' (singular) → 'is'.
2. are developing → is being developed; we → by us.
3. A = present perfect, C = simple present, D = past continuous.

Trick: Continuous tense in active → 'being' must appear in passive.

Answer: (B) An interactive program is being developed by us.

Concept: Did + subject + V1? → Was/Were + object + V3 + by + agent?

1. Object 'the report' is singular → 'Was'.
2. Was the report finished by you?
3. A is not in question order, C = past perfect, D = present.

Trick: 'Did' in active → 'Was/Were' at the start of the passive question.

Answer: (B) Was the report finished by you?

Concept: A universal truth keeps the simple present in both direct and indirect speech.

1. told the class that → said to the class, "…"
2. 'The sun rises in the east' is a permanent fact → verb stays 'rises'.
3. A (rose), B (will rise), C (is rising) wrongly change the tense.

Yaad rakhein: Facts of nature / science never change tense in narration.

Answer: (D) The teacher said to the class, "The sun rises in the east."

Concept: Verb in V1 + s/es with a singular subject = present simple.

1. Verbs: 'treats', 'requires' – both V1 + s.
2. No has/have + V3 (not present perfect), no past forms.
3. It states a general fact → present simple.

Trick: Spot the verb ending: -s/-es alone = present simple; had + V3 = past perfect; has/have + V3 = present perfect.

Answer: (C) Present simple

Concept: If the subject performs the action, the sentence is active.

1. Subject 'people' does the action 'consider'.
2. No 'be + V3' structure → not passive.
3. Imperative/subjunctive are moods, not voices.

Trick: Ask 'who does the verb?' – if it's the subject, it's active.

Answer: (B) Active voice

Concept: Taboo = a social or cultural prohibition on an action or topic.

1. The passage calls open discussion 'a taboo' and then a 'cultural restriction'.
2. So it is a custom that forbids or limits a practice – option C.
3. Nothing is celebrated, religious or legal here.

Trick: Look at the next sentence – passages often restate a hard word ('cultural restriction').

Answer: (C) A social custom that prohibits or restricts a particular practice

Concept: Suffer in silence = bear pain or trouble without complaining or asking for help.

1. Girls face shame and lack of products, so they endure it alone.
2. Option B states exactly this.
3. Celebrating, studying or speaking softly have no link with suffering.

Trick: Keep the core verb – 'suffer' means pain; only option B contains a pain idea.

Answer: (B) To endure pain or distress without complaining or seeking assistance

Concept: Factual questions are answered from the exact line in the passage.

1. Para 2: activists call education 'the most effective tool to dismantle these outdated perceptions'.
2. Financial aid, strict laws and rituals are not offered as the tool.

Trick: Search the passage for the question's key word ('dismantle') – the answer sits in that sentence.

Answer: (B) Education

Concept: Abiding = lasting, enduring, permanent.

1. Perennial = lasting for a very long time / recurring year after year → synonym.
2. Perishable, momentary, evanescent all mean short-lived – opposites.

Trick: Three options mean 'short-lived'; the odd one out is the synonym of a 'long-lasting' word.

Answer: (D) Perennial

Concept: Correct spelling: umbilical (related to the navel).

1. Option A 'Umbilecal' has 'e' in place of 'i'.
2. Precious, Empirical, Fractured are correct.

Trick: um-bi-li-cal: every vowel after 'b' is 'i' except the last 'a'.

Answer: (A) Umbilecal

Concept: Pick the word whose meaning matches the whole description: hatred of people in general + living alone.

1. Key clue: dislike for humanity (all people, not one group).
2. Misanthrope = one who hates or avoids mankind; fits the solitude part too.
3. Misogynist hates only women; a cynic doubts people's motives; a narcissist loves himself.

Trick: Root help: mis (hate) + anthrop (man/humanity). Same root in anthropology.

Answer: (A) Misanthrope

Concept: An idiom has a fixed figurative meaning, not a literal one.

1. Bite the bullet = face a painful or unpleasant situation that cannot be avoided.
2. Ravi accepts surgery because no other choice is left – he faces the unavoidable.
3. Options (C) and (D) mean avoiding things – the opposite idea.

Trick: Picture a soldier biting a bullet during surgery without anaesthesia – he just endures the pain.

Answer: (B) To get something over with because it is inevitable

Concept: Idioms related to hard work and effort.

1. Burn the midnight oil = work or study late into the night, i.e. work hard for long hours.
2. Shruti quietly spent long hours making blankets – sustained hard work.
3. (A) and (D) are about sleep timings; (B) 'a few minutes' contradicts 'long hours'.

Trick: Old days: lamps burned oil at midnight only when someone was still working.

Answer: (C) Work hard for a long time

Concept: Neither of / Either of / Each of + plural noun takes a singular verb.

1. Subject = 'Neither (one) of the two girls' → singular.
2. So 'have completed' must be 'has completed'.
3. 'her assignment' already agrees with the singular subject.

Trick: Mentally replace 'Neither of the two girls' with 'Not one girl' → 'has' sounds right instantly.

Answer: (B) girls have

Concept: With neither…nor / either…or / not only…but also, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

1. Nearer subject = 'the students' (plural).
2. Plural subject needs 'have' → 'have arrived'.
3. Error is in 'has arrived'.

Trick: Look only at the noun just before the verb and match the verb with it.

Answer: (C) has arrived