SSC CPO Paper II 2021, 2025 PYQs

Concept: Stative verbs of wish/feeling such as want, wish, like, know are normally not used in continuous tenses.

1. He is wanting → He wants (simple present).
2. After want comes the to-infinitive: to give, not to giving (B).
3. (C) He want breaks subject-verb agreement.

Yaad rakhein: want, know, like, believe, own → no -ing form.

Answer: (A) He wants to give

Concept: Statement with an object: said to → told, add that, change pronouns and shift will → would.

1. You (Pauline) → she; me (Cornelius) → him.
2. will have to agree → would have to agree.
3. (A) changes the meaning to a request; (C) keeps direct pronouns; (D) keeps will.

Yaad rakhein: said to → told; will → would; you → she/he as per the listener.

Answer: (B) Cornelius told Pauline that she would have to agree to drive him to town from time to time.

Concept: Foyer = an entrance hall or lobby of a hotel, theatre or other public building.

1. portico = a roofed porch with columns at the entrance (outside).
2. gallery = a room/hall for displaying art, or an upper floor in a theatre.
3. aisle = a passage between rows of seats.

Yaad rakhein: foyer = lobby of a theatre/hotel (पढ़ें: फ़ॉये).

Answer: (B) foyer

Concept: Perseverance = continued effort to do something despite difficulty (दृढ़ता, लगन).

1. determination, dedication, tenacity are all synonyms of perseverance.
2. indifference = lack of interest or concern (उदासीनता) – the opposite of persistent effort.
3. Hence (D).

Yaad rakhein: Three synonyms in the options point to the odd one out as the antonym.

Answer: (D) indifference

Concept: After verbs of perception (see, hear, watch, notice) + object, we use the present participle (V-ing) for an action in progress.

1. We saw some children quarrelling – the action was going on while we walked.
2. to quarrel (B) is wrong; after see the bare infinitive or -ing is used, not to.
3. quarrels and quarrelled cannot follow the object here.

Yaad rakhein: see/hear/watch + object + V-ing (action in progress).

Answer: (D) quarrelling

Concept: A wh-question in indirect speech becomes a statement in assertive order (subject + verb), and the tense shifts back.

1. are you looking → he was looking (statement order).
2. said → asked Mr. Barrington.
3. (A) and (B) keep question order and (A) adds would; (D) keeps are you.

Yaad rakhein: Indirect question = no question order, no question mark.

Answer: (C) The house agent asked Mr. Barrington what sort of a house he was looking for.

Concept: Link the facts about the writer’s childhood logically; But and For this or the other reasons must follow the ideas they refer to.

1. After A, C gives the family position: middle child of three.
2. E (But a gap of five years on either side) qualifies C → C→E.
3. B: For this … reasons, I was lonely sums up E; D adds another cause (father away); F: the lonely child’s habits.

Yaad rakhein: But there was a gap … on either side needs ‘middle child’ (C) before it.

Answer: (D) ACEBDF

Concept: You are requested to … is the passive form of a polite imperative; its active form begins with Please (or Kindly).

1. You are requested to give me change → Please give me change.
2. (A) should turns it into advice/duty.
3. (B) and (D) turn it into questions – a different sentence type.

Yaad rakhein: Please/Kindly + V1 ↔ You are requested to + V1.

Answer: (C) Please give me change for ₹2000.

Concept: With a past reporting verb: present continuous → past continuous, I → he, and tomorrow → the next day.

1. I am looking forward → he was looking forward.
2. tomorrow’s auction → the next day’s auction.
3. (A) keeps I am; (B) keeps is; (C) keeps tomorrow’s.

Yaad rakhein: Time words change too: today → that day, tomorrow → the next day.

Answer: (D) Walter told David that he was looking forward to the next day’s auction.

Concept: Shallow = of little depth (उथला); figuratively, lacking serious thought.

1. Its direct opposite is deep (गहरा).
2. hollow = empty inside; trivial = unimportant (close to shallow in meaning); narrow is the opposite of wide.
3. Hence (B).

Yaad rakhein: shallow water ↔ deep water.

Answer: (B) deep

Concept: Simple past active (V2) becomes was/were + V3 in the passive.

1. Object a large number of trees (plural) → subject, so were.
2. uprooted → were uprooted by the storm last night.
3. (A) uses present perfect with last night (wrong); (B) and (D) reverse the meaning.

Yaad rakhein: a large number of + plural noun → plural verb (were).

Answer: (C) A large number of trees were uprooted by the storm last night.

Concept: When two subjects are joined by along with, as well as, together with, the verb agrees with the first subject.

1. Subject = The pilot (singular); along with his crew is extra information.
2. So have gone on → has gone on.
3. go on vacation is the correct phrase, so (A) gone to is wrong; (D) were gone is incorrect.

Yaad rakhein: along with / as well as / with → ignore the second noun; match the verb with the first.

Answer: (C) has gone on

Concept: In the passive, Who becomes By whom; present perfect has + V3 becomes has + been + V3.

1. Who has taken away my pen? → By whom has my pen been taken away?
2. The tense stays present perfect.
3. (B) is past perfect, (C) simple present, (D) simple past – tense changed.

Yaad rakhein: Who → By whom; keep the tense: has taken → has been taken.

Answer: (A) By whom has my pen been taken away?

Concept: exclaimed that … very in indirect speech becomes an exclamation with How/What and ! in direct speech; past → present, that → this.

1. very ugly → How ugly …!
2. she looked → I look; that dress → this dress.
3. (A) keeps looked and that; (B) is a plain statement; (C) is a question.

Yaad rakhein: exclaimed + very → How/What …! ; that → this.

Answer: (D) She said, “How ugly I look in this dress!”

Concept: Latin roots: somnus = sleep, loqui = to speak → somniloquist = one who talks in sleep.

1. ventriloquist – speaks so that the voice seems to come from elsewhere (e.g. a puppet).
2. interlocutor – a person taking part in a conversation.
3. soliloquist – one who talks to oneself (soliloquy).

Yaad rakhein: somnambulist walks in sleep, somniloquist talks in sleep.

Answer: (C) somniloquist

Concept: Information is an uncountable noun – it never takes -s; the correct phrase is with regard to or simply regarding.

1. informations → information.
2. with regard of is wrong → regarding.
3. (C) in the regard of and (D) informations with a regard to are incorrect.

Yaad rakhein: information, advice, furniture, luggage – no plural form.

Answer: (B) information regarding

Concept: Start with the sentence that introduces the scene and the objects, then the child’s reaction, his desire, and finally the contrast with But.

1. B introduces the balloon seller – an independent opening.
2. C: their silken colours – their = the balloons of B.
3. A: desire to possess them all; D: But his parents would never buy them.

Yaad rakhein: But (D) sets a limit on a wish – so it comes after the wish (A).

Answer: (C) BCAD

Concept: Since is used for a point of time (since Monday, since 2020); for is used for a period of time (for a week, for two hours).

1. a week is a period → for a week.
2. Correct sentence: Ramprasad has not been able to come to work for a week due to fever.
3. Other parts are correct.

Yaad rakhein: since + point of time; for + length of time.

Answer: (D) since a week

Concept: Relevant = closely connected or applicable to the matter at hand (प्रासंगिक).

1. Opposite: inapplicable / irrelevant – not applicable (अप्रासंगिक).
2. ineligible = not qualified; inhabitable = fit to live in; inevitable = unavoidable.
3. Hence (D).

Yaad rakhein: relevant ↔ irrelevant / inapplicable.

Answer: (D) Inapplicable

Concept: Iconoclast (Greek eikon = image + klastes = breaker) = one who attacks established beliefs, traditions or institutions.

1. egoist – a self-centred person.
2. stoic – one who endures pain or hardship without complaint.
3. agnostic – one who believes the existence of God cannot be known.

Yaad rakhein: iconoclast = breaker of icons → breaker of traditions.

Answer: (A) iconoclast