SSC CPO Paper II 2021, 2025 PYQs

Concept: Simple past passive 'was/were + V3 + by + agent' becomes active agent + V2 + object.

1. Agent 'special commandos' → subject.
2. 'Was surrounded' → surrounded (V2).
3. 'Special commandos surrounded the building.'
4. (A) present, (B) present continuous, (D) present perfect — tense changed.

Trick: was/were + V3 → V2 in active.

Answer: (C) Special commandos surrounded the building.

Concept: Lest means 'for fear that / so that… not'. It is followed by should + V1 and never by a negative word.

1. 'Lest you should fail' is the correct structure.
2. 'Lest… shouldn't' is a double negative (C); 'unless' (D) changes the meaning.
3. 'Such that you should' (A) does not express fear or prevention.
4. So no substitution is needed.

Trick: Lest = 'kahin aisa na ho ki'; lest + should + V1, no 'not'.

Answer: (B) No substitution

Concept: Arrange the actions in the natural order of Toto's bath: test water → get in → soap → water gets cold → get out → dry.

1. After A (bowl of warm water), D he tests the temperature and steps in.
2. E 'Once comfortable', he soaps himself.
3. C when the water becomes cold, he gets out and runs.
4. B 'He would then rush… to dry himself'. Order: A-D-E-C-B-F.

Trick: Follow the real-life sequence of a bath; 'then… dry himself' must come after getting out.

Answer: (C) ADECBF

Concept: Move from the description of the house to Sadao's childhood memories and then to his father's words, which F answers.

1. After A (the house's spot), E describes the square stone house on rocks above a beach with bent pines.
2. D 'As a boy, Sadao had climbed the pines…' — links to 'pines' in E.
3. C His father had taken him to the islands of those seas.
4. B father's words 'Those islands are the stepping stones…' → F 'Where shall we step from them?' Order: A-E-D-C-B-F.

Trick: Keyword chain: pines (E→D), islands (C→B), stepping stones → step (B→F).

Answer: (A) AEDCBF

Concept: The correct idiom is none other than. 'None' (no one) takes a singular verb, and 'know' (a stative verb) is not used in the continuous form.

1. 'Other beside' → other than.
2. 'Are knowing' is wrong: 'know' is stative, so use simple present.
3. 'None… than you' → singular verb knows: 'None other than you knows the truth.'
4. (A) and (D) keep 'knowing'; so (C) is the best choice.

Trick: Other / rather / else are followed by 'than'; never use 'know' in -ing form.

Answer: (C) than you knows

Concept: After the auxiliary did, the main verb is always in its base form (V1).

1. 'No sooner did the chairman arrived' — 'did + V2' is wrong.
2. Correct: 'No sooner did the chairman arrive than the proceedings commenced.'
3. 'No sooner… than' pairing and inversion are already correct.

Trick: Do/does/did + V1 always; inversion after 'No sooner' uses did + subject + V1.

Answer: (B) did the chairman arrived

Concept: The conjunction is as soon as; 'as soon' alone cannot join two clauses.

1. 'As soon he heard' misses the second 'as'.
2. Correct: 'As soon as he heard the sound of thunder, he hid under the bed.'
3. The remaining parts are correct.

Yaad rakhein: Fixed conjunctions: as soon as, as long as, as far as — both 'as' are needed.

Answer: (C) As soon he heard

Concept: Simple present passive 'am/is/are + V3 + by + agent' becomes active agent + V1 + object; the subject 'I' becomes the object 'me'.

1. Agent 'all my friends' → subject (plural → trust).
2. 'I' → object me.
3. 'All my friends trust me.'
4. (A) and (B) reverse the roles; (D) changes to past.

Trick: In voice change, subject ↔ object swap: I ↔ me, he ↔ him, they ↔ them.

Answer: (C) All my friends trust me.

Concept: A Wh-question is reported with asked + the Wh-word + statement order (subject before verb), with no 'that' and no question mark.

1. Said to → asked; 'What' stays as the connector.
2. I (speaker = he) → he; you (listener = me) → me.
3. Can → could: 'He asked me what he could do for me.'
4. (B) uses 'that what' and question order; (C) wrong pronouns; (D) keeps 'can'.

Trick: Wh-question → asked + wh-word + subject + verb; never 'that' with a question word.

Answer: (A) He asked me what he could do for me.

Concept: A clause introduced by 'why' needs a subject and a finite verb; 'why his low score' has no verb.

1. 'The reason why his low score' is incomplete.
2. Correct: '…the reason for his low score in Mathematics' or '…the reason why he had scored low…'.
3. So the error is in 'why his low score'.

Trick: Why/where/when + subject + verb; otherwise use 'for + noun'.

Answer: (A) why his low score

Concept: A comparative adjective (poorer, taller, better) is intensified by much or far, not by 'very' or 'more'.

1. 'Poorer than' is comparative.
2. 'Very' goes with the positive degree (very poor); 'more poorer' is a double comparative; 'most' is superlative.
3. So: 'He is much poorer than all his friends.'

Trick: Much/far + comparative; very + positive.

Answer: (A) much

Concept: The correct spelling is relevant (ending -ant), not 'relevent'.

1. Relevant = closely connected to the matter in hand.
2. Distinct, beseech and surrender are spelt correctly.
3. So the misspelt word is 'relevent'.

Trick: Relevant → relevance (-ant/-ance go together).

Answer: (A) relevent

Concept: 'Lauded' (praised) in indirect speech points to an exclamation of praise like 'Well done!'; past perfect 'had been' returns to has been, and 'his' → 'your'.

1. Lauded → 'Well done!' / 'Bravo!'.
2. His performance → your performance (salesman is the listener).
3. Had been → has been: 'Well done! Your performance has been exceptional.'
4. (A) 'Oh!' and 'had been'; (B) keeps 'his'; (C) 'has being' is wrong.

Trick: Indirect past perfect → direct present perfect or simple past; praise verbs → 'Well done!/Bravo!'.

Answer: (D) The manager said to the salesman, “Well done! Your performance has been
exceptional.”

Concept: Begin with the sentence that sets the scene, then reveal what was found, the wish it created and finally the decision.

1. C Jacob was reading a comic book and came upon something interesting.
2. A 'It was the advertisement for a metal detector' — 'It' = the interesting thing.
3. B Jacob believed he could find treasure with that detector.
4. D 'So, he decided to save every penny…'. Order: C-A-B-D.

Trick: 'It' (A) needs C before it; 'So' (D) gives the result, so it comes last.

Answer: (A) CABD

Concept: 'People say + that-clause' becomes passive as Subject + is said + to-infinitive. If the that-clause is earlier in time (perfect), use the perfect infinitive 'to have + V3'.

1. People say → he is said.
2. 'He has lived' (present perfect) → to have lived.
3. 'He is said to have lived on liquid diet for years.'
4. (B) 'to live' loses the perfect sense; (C) 'has said' is active; (D) changes 'lived' to continuous.

Trick: Says + present → is said to + V1; says + perfect/past → is said to have + V3.

Answer: (A) He is said to have lived on liquid diet for years.

Concept: Too + adjective is followed by a to-infinitive (too… to), not 'for + verb'.

1. 'Too immature for handle' is wrong.
2. Correct: 'He is too immature to handle the situation.'
3. 'For' can be followed only by a noun/gerund, never by a bare verb.

Trick: Too + adj + to + V1 (e.g., too weak to walk).

Answer: (B) for handle

Concept: Elbow room means enough space or freedom to act as one wishes.

1. The CEO favours giving managers freedom to take their own decisions.
2. It has nothing to do with competition, salaries or vacations.
3. So elbow room = freedom to do what one wants.

Yaad rakhein: Picture having room to move your elbows freely → freedom of action.

Answer: (C) freedom to do what one wants

Concept: Simple future active 'will + V1' becomes passive will be + V3. 'Nobody' in the active becomes 'not… by anybody' in the passive.

1. Object 'you' → subject 'You'.
2. 'Will help' → will be helped; nobody → not… by anybody.
3. The if-clause stays unchanged: 'You will not be helped by anybody if you are rude.'
4. (A) 'not been… by nobody' is a double negative and wrong form; (B) and (C) change the tense.

Trick: Nobody/No one → not… by anybody; will + V1 → will be + V3.

Answer: (D) You will not be helped by anybody if you are rude.

Concept: To refer to an event over a period of time, we use during; 'within' means 'before the end of a limit'.

1. 'Within my visit' is unidiomatic.
2. Correct: 'I saw several French colonial villas during my visit to Puducherry.'
3. The other segments are correct.

Trick: During + event (during the visit/war/class); within + time limit (within a week).

Answer: (C) within my visit

Concept: Correlative pairs are fixed: No sooner… than and Scarcely/Hardly… when. When such a negative adverb begins the sentence, inversion (had + subject) is needed.

1. The sentence has 'when' in the second part → the first part must be Scarcely (or Hardly).
2. Inversion: Scarcely had she put the baby to sleep when a loud noise woke him up.
3. (B) 'As soon as… when' is wrong; (C) 'No sooner… when' is a wrong pair without inversion; (D) 'No sooner she did' lacks inversion.

Trick: No sooner → than; Scarcely/Hardly → when; always invert after them.

Answer: (A) Scarcely had she