SSC CPO Paper II 2021, 2025 PYQs

Concept: Tense consistency – the narration is in the simple past, and the subject 'The kitchen' is singular.

1. The surrounding verbs are past: 'had gone', 'put', 'went'.
2. A singular subject in the past takes 'was': 'The kitchen … was empty.'
3. 'is' and 'will be' break the past tense; 'were' is plural.

Trick: Past narration + singular subject → was.

Answer: (D) was

Concept: Collocation – a stew is cooked slowly on a stove; the verb for this is 'simmer'.

1. 'Simmering' = cooking gently just below boiling point – exactly what a stew on a stove does.
2. 'wasting', 'replicating' (copying) and 'falling' make no sense with a stew.

Trick: Stew / soup / curry on low flame → simmering.

Answer: (B) simmering

Concept: Context – she has to raise the lid to smell the stew, and later she 'replaced' it.

1. To sniff the stew she must 'lift' the lid off the pot.
2. 'grabbed' only means seized, 'twisted' and 'caught' do not fit a pot lid.
3. 'replaced the lid' later confirms the lid was lifted off.

Trick: lift the lid ↔ replace the lid – a natural pair.

Answer: (A) lifted

Concept: Phrasal verb + tense – 'reach into' means to put one's hand inside something; the narration is in the past.

1. She took salt and spices from the cupboard, so she 'reached into' it.
2. The sentence is past ('added', 'stirred'), so 'reached', not 'reach'.
3. 'went into the cupboard' means entering it bodily; 'stretched into' is not idiomatic.

Trick: Hand inside a bag / drawer / cupboard → reach into.

Answer: (B) reached

Concept: Context – what was removed earlier is put back at the end.

1. In blank 3 she lifted the 'lid' of the pot.
2. After adding spices and stirring, she 'replaced the lid'.
3. Spoon, pan or fork were never removed, so they cannot be 'replaced'.

Trick: Replace = put back what you took off → the lid.

Answer: (A) lid

Concept: Subject–verb agreement in the simple present – the passage describes a present fact about a singular subject.

1. 'The sanctuary' is singular; the passage is in the present ('Reteti is …').
2. Singular subject + simple present → 'takes in' (= gives shelter to).
3. 'take' is plural, 'took' is past, 'taking' needs 'is'.

Trick: Singular subject + present habit → verb + s.

Answer: (B) takes

Concept: Fixed phrase – 'with the aim of' + -ing.

1. The idiom is 'with the aim of doing something' = intending to do it.
2. 'by/from/for the aim of' are not used in English.

Yaad rakhein: with the aim of / with a view to – learn them as fixed phrases.

Answer: (C) with

Concept: Collective nouns – each group of animals has its own collective noun.

1. A group of elephants is a 'herd'; calves are released back into wild herds.
2. 'pride' is for lions, 'flock' for birds/sheep, 'gang' for buffaloes/people.

Yaad rakhein: Elephants, cattle, deer → herd; lions → pride; birds → flock.

Answer: (A) herds

Concept: Context + parallelism – the passage itself speaks of 'orphaned and abandoned elephant calves'.

1. Line 1 pairs 'orphaned' with 'abandoned'; blank 4 repeats the pair: 'orphaned or abandoned'.
2. 'neglected' is weaker, 'vacated' is used for places, 'executed' means put to death.

Trick: Look back in the passage – the word is often already there.

Answer: (C) abandoned

Concept: Collocation – the standard term is 'human-wildlife conflict'.

1. 'Human-wildlife conflict' is the established phrase for clashes between people and wild animals over land and water.
2. 'battle', 'fight', 'rivalry' are not used in this fixed term.

Yaad rakhein: Human-wildlife conflict / man-animal conflict – fixed expressions.

Answer: (B) conflict

Concept: Vocabulary – an institution set up in response to a demand is 'established'.

1. 'Established' = founded, set up – a sanctuary is set up because the community demanded it.
2. 'located/situated' describe position, not the reason; 'recognised' means officially accepted, not created.

Yaad rakhein: Set up / founded = established.

Answer: (D) established

Concept: Vocabulary + passive voice – staff are 'recruited' (employed) from an area.

1. 'are recruited from' = are selected and employed from Namunyak Conservancy.
2. 'joined' and 'entered' are not used in the passive this way; 'installed' is for machines or officials put in office.

Trick: Employees / soldiers / keepers → recruited.

Answer: (B) recruited

Concept: Present perfect continuous – 'have been' + verb-ing, with 'for thousands of years'.

1. 'have been … for thousands of years' needs the -ing form: 'have been living'.
2. 'lives', 'lived' cannot follow 'have been' here; 'alive' is an adjective.

Trick: have/has been + V-ing + for/since.

Answer: (B) living

Concept: Collocation – 'deep respect'.

1. Respect is described as 'deep' (= great, sincere).
2. 'very' cannot modify a noun; 'many' is for countable nouns; 'total respect' is not natural here.

Yaad rakhein: deep respect, deep love, deep concern.

Answer: (A) deep

Concept: Possessive determiner 'its' vs the contraction 'it's'.

1. The resources belong to 'the land' (singular, thing) → 'its resources'.
2. 'it's' = it is; 'theirs' and 'them' cannot stand before a noun.

Yaad rakhein: its = possessive; it's = it is.

Answer: (C) its

Concept: Preposition of position along a line – a fence runs 'along' a border.

1. A border is a long line; something placed over its length is 'along' it.
2. 'among' needs a group, 'above' is height, 'against' means opposing or leaning.

Trick: Fence / road / river / border → along.

Answer: (A) along

Concept: Vocabulary – an added smart fence makes the existing surveillance stronger.

1. The fence is meant to 'strengthen' (reinforce) the surveillance system.
2. 'steady' means keep stable, 'understand' makes no sense; 'increase a system' is unidiomatic.

Trick: Strengthen security / ties / surveillance – common collocation.

Answer: (D) strengthen

Concept: Preposition with 'time' – 'at a time when'.

1. The fixed expression is 'comes at a time when …'.
2. 'in a time', 'on a time', 'by a time' are not used before 'when' in this sense.

Yaad rakhein: at a time when / at the moment when.

Answer: (C) at

Concept: Context – migration that is blamed for violence is uncontrolled.

1. Paired with 'unfenced border', the migration must be 'unregulated' (not controlled by rules).
2. 'strict' and 'intolerant' contradict the negative sense; 'forced migration' is a different idea.

Trick: unfenced border ↔ unregulated migration – both show lack of control.

Answer: (C) unregulated

Concept: Vocabulary – causes held responsible for something are 'factors'.

1. 'blamed as factors responsible for the violence' = causes contributing to it.
2. 'portions' = parts, 'influences' and 'agents' do not fit with 'responsible for' here.

Yaad rakhein: Factor = a cause that contributes to a result.

Answer: (B) factors