SSC CPO Paper II 2021, 2025 PYQs

Concept: 'Fight tooth and nail' means to fight or try with all one's strength, very fiercely.

1. Example: The team fought tooth and nail to save the match.
2. It describes the effort, not the result – so not 'win the competition'.
3. Meaning: 'Fight very fiercely'.

Yaad rakhein: Using even teeth and nails = using every possible weapon.

Answer: (C) Fight very fiercely

Concept: 'am/is/are + V3' is simple present passive; its active form uses V1/V1+s.

1. Passive: I am vexed by her behaviour – simple present.
2. Agent her behaviour (singular) → subject; verb vexes; object me.
3. (A) present perfect, (C) simple past, (D) changes the structure.

Trick: is/am/are + V3 → V1(s) – simple present stays simple present.

Answer: (B) Her behaviour vexes me.

Concept: For things (non-living) the relative pronoun is 'which' (or 'that').

1. Antecedent: the old telephone – a thing.
2. The old telephone which nobody wants has been thrown …
3. 'who/whom' are for persons; 'what' cannot follow a noun.

Trick: Person → who/whom; thing → which; both → that.

Answer: (C) which

Concept: Past reporting verb: 'will' → 'would'; 'we' → 'they' (Anshul and others); 'said to' → 'told … that'.

1. We will shift → they would shift.
2. (A) and (C) keep 'will'; (D) keeps 'we'.
3. Correct: Anshul told Vibha that they would shift all the furniture to the new house.

Trick: will → would, shall → should whenever the reporting verb is past.

Answer: (B) Anshul told Vibha that they would shift all the furniture to the new house.

Concept: A and F are fixed; follow the plan the hungry bandits made and what happened next.

1. A: they were hungry. C: So they decided that one … would guard it – 'So' follows hunger.
2. D: And the other one would go … buy some food – second half of the plan.
3. E: the plan is carried out – one stays, the other sets off.
4. B: the guard's greedy thought; F continues his thought: “It would be so much simpler …”

Trick: 'one of them … And the other one' – C and D are a pair; F must follow B's quotation.

Answer: (B) ACDEBF

Concept: Past reporting verb: simple present → simple past ('have' → 'had'), 'can' → 'could', 'I' → 'he', 'you' → 'her' (Margaret).

1. I already have an appointment → he already had an appointment.
2. I can fit you in → he could fit her in.
3. (A) unchanged; (B) keeps 'can' and 'you'; (C) keeps 'I' and changes the tense wrongly.

Trick: Change both clauses after 'but' too – tense and pronouns.

Answer: (D) Harry told Margaret that he already had an appointment at nine but he could fit her in at ten for half an hour.

Concept: When one person is compared with a whole group (more than two), the superlative is used: 'the most methodical'.

1. Comparison is with the whole office staff → superlative.
2. Correct: Mr. Bansal is the most methodical person in our office staff.
3. 'the more' is used only when comparing two.

Trick: 'in our office/class/group' after the adjective → superlative degree.

Answer: (B) the more

Concept: Present perfect passive 'has been + V3' becomes active 'have/has + V3'; plural subject 'the workers' takes 'have'.

1. Agent the workers → subject; has been called off → have called off.
2. Active: The workers have called off the strike.
3. (A) present continuous, (D) past perfect, (C) makes 'strike' the doer.

Trick: has/have been + V3 → has/have + V3 (plural subject → have).

Answer: (B) The workers have called off the strike.

Concept: Imperative passive 'Let + object + be + V3' becomes a direct command in the active: 'V1 + object'.

1. Let this letter be posted at once. = an order.
2. Remove 'Let … be' and use the base verb: Post this letter at once.
3. (A) and (C) are future statements; (B) is still passive.

Trick: Let + O + be + V3 → V1 + O.

Answer: (D) Post this letter at once.

Concept: 'requested … to + V1' in indirect speech comes from an imperative with 'Please'; 'he could' goes back to 'I can'.

1. requested the teacher → said to the teacher, “Please …”
2. so that he could note down → so that I can note down.
3. (A) 'told to' and 'could'; (B) 'we' and 'Madam' not in the original; (D) keeps 'he could' and drops 'Please'.

Trick: requested → 'Please …' ; ordered → plain command.

Answer: (C) The student said to the teacher, “Please speak a little slowly so that I can note down the points.”

Concept: A person who moves from one region or country to another (to live or work) is a migrant.

1. Migrant – moves from one place/country to another.
2. Truant – a student absent without permission; Vagrant – homeless wanderer.
3. Itinerant – travels from place to place, usually for work (e.g. a travelling salesman), not specifically region to region.

Yaad rakhein: migrate → migrant (birds migrate from one region to another).

Answer: (B) migrant

Concept: An active question beginning with 'Who' becomes passive with 'By whom'; simple present → 'is/are + V3'.

1. Object the accounts of this hotel (plural) → are … kept.
2. Pattern: By whom + are + object + V3?
3. By whom are the accounts of this hotel kept?
4. (A) present perfect; (B) and (D) continuous tense and split phrase.

Trick: Who → By whom; keeps (simple present) → are kept.

Answer: (C) By whom are the accounts of this hotel kept?

Concept: In a first conditional, the 'if' clause takes simple present; 'will' is used only in the main clause.

1. If you will search → If you search.
2. Main clause you will surely find your watch is correct.
3. Correct: If you search his pockets, you will surely find your watch.

Trick: If + present, will + V1 – no 'will' after 'if'.

Answer: (B) will search

Concept: An action completed before another is shown by the perfect participle 'Having + V3'.

1. He saw the film first, then decided not to see it again.
2. Having seen the film once, he doesn't want to see it again.
3. 'Being seen' is passive (he was seen) – wrong sense; (A) and (B) are awkward and change meaning.

Trick: Earlier completed action → Having + V3, then the main clause.

Answer: (C) Having seen the film

Concept: 'in case of' is followed by a noun or gerund; the person is selected by others, so the passive gerund 'being selected' is correct.

1. in case of not being selected – preposition + negative passive gerund: correct.
2. 'not having selected' (B) is active – wrong sense; 'not to be selected' (C) cannot follow 'of'.
3. 'being not selection' (D) is ungrammatical.

Trick: Preposition + -ing (gerund); for passive meaning use 'being + V3'.

Answer: (A) No substitution required

Concept: 'Fifth wheel' refers to a person (or thing) that is unnecessary or unwanted in a group.

1. A car needs four wheels; a fifth one is extra and useless.
2. Example: I felt like a fifth wheel at their party.
3. So the meaning is 'An unneeded person'.

Yaad rakhein: Four wheels do the job – the fifth is surplus.

Answer: (B) An unneeded person

Concept: 'Nearby' is an adjective/adverb, not a preposition before a noun phrase; to mean 'beside' we use 'next to' (or 'near').

1. Put this plant next to a window … – correct preposition of place.
2. 'near to' (B) is informal/non-standard in such use; 'near of' (D) is wrong.
3. So 'nearby a window' must be replaced by 'next to'.

Trick: nearby = adjective (a nearby shop) or adverb (lives nearby); near / next to = preposition.

Answer: (C) next to

Concept: Simple future active 'will + V1' becomes passive 'will be + V3'.

1. Object a webinar on investment → subject.
2. will organise → will be organised; add by Professor Sehgal.
3. (A) present continuous, (B) future perfect, (D) 'is going to' – tense changed.

Trick: will + V1 → will be + V3.

Answer: (C) A webinar on investment will be organised by Professor Sehgal tomorrow.

Concept: Two actions done by the same subject at the same time are joined with a present participle phrase (V-ing).

1. Jia kept the photo in front of her while drawing.
2. Keeping the photo in front of her, Jia drew the picture.
3. 'To keeping' is ungrammatical; 'Being kept' is passive (wrong sense); 'To have kept' shows purpose/past – wrong.

Trick: Same subject, simultaneous actions → V-ing phrase + main clause.

Answer: (B) Keeping

Concept: Indirect yes/no question → direct question: 'asked' → 'said to', 'if he could' → 'Can you', 'her coat' → 'my coat'.

1. if he could dry clean → “Can you dry clean …?”
2. her coat → my coat (the speaker's own coat).
3. (A) 'he', (B) 'she … her', (D) 'her coat' – pronouns not reversed.

Trick: In direct speech the listener becomes 'you' and the speaker's things become 'my'.

Answer: (C) She said to the drycleaner, “Can you dry clean my coat in a day’s time?”