SSC CPO Paper II 2021, 2025 PYQs

Concept: 'Savoury' describes food that is pleasing in taste or smell, especially because it is well seasoned (salty or spicy rather than sweet).

1. Key words: pleasing taste/smell + effective seasoning → savoury.
2. 'Sweet' refers only to sugar taste, not seasoning.
3. 'Stale' (not fresh) and 'smelly' (bad odour) are unpleasant – opposite in sense.

Trick: Seasoning (salt, spices) → savoury food, e.g. samosa, pakora.

Answer: (A) Savoury

Concept: 'A new broom sweeps clean' means a newly appointed person or management makes sweeping (far-reaching) changes at first.

1. A new broom = a new boss/management; sweeps clean = removes old ways completely.
2. Example: The new principal changed every rule – a new broom sweeps clean.
3. Option (A) takes the idiom literally; (B) and (C) talk about attraction/forgetting, not change.

Trick: New broom = new boss → big changes.

Answer: (D) New management makes far-reaching changes

Concept: A passive question in the simple present ('Is/Am/Are + V3') becomes 'Do/Does + subject + V1' in the active voice.

1. 'Is the news watched by you' → tense: simple present passive.
2. Agent 'by you' becomes subject 'you'; 'you' takes 'Do'.
3. Active: 'Do you watch the news every day?'
4. (A) present perfect, (B) future continuous, (D) present continuous – tense changed.

Trick: Is/Are + V3 (passive) ↔ Do/Does + V1 (active).

Answer: (C) Do you watch the news every day?

Concept: Indefinite pronouns like 'nobody', 'everyone', 'somebody' are singular and take a singular verb.

1. 'Nobody' is singular → 'is satisfied' is correct.
2. 'satisfied with' is the correct preposition.
3. 'your work' is fine. The sentence has no error.

Trick: Nobody / everybody / each / every → singular verb.

Answer: (C) No error

Concept: An imperative sentence (order/request) becomes passive with 'Let + object + be + V3'.

1. 'Submit the report by Friday' is an order.
2. Pattern: Let + the report + be + submitted.
3. Passive: 'Let the report be submitted by Friday.'
4. (B) and (C) change the sense (possibility/necessity); (D) misses 'be'.

Trick: Order → Let + object + be + V3.

Answer: (A) Let the report be submitted by Friday.

Concept: Idiomatic expression: 'at its lowest' (not 'on its lowest'); a point of time in the past with the present situation takes 'since', not 'from'.

1. The underlined part is 'is on its lowest from'.
2. Correct phrase: 'is at its lowest since 2015' – lowest level since that year.
3. (C) and (D) keep the wrong 'from'; (C) also uses 'on its low'.

Trick: at its lowest / at its highest + since + year.

Answer: (A) is at its lowest since

Concept: In a first conditional sentence, the 'if' clause takes the simple present; 'agree' is a stative verb and is not used in the continuous form.

1. Underlined: 'everyone is agreeing'.
2. 'Everyone' is singular → 'agrees'.
3. Correct: 'We can go on a vacation if everyone agrees.'
4. 'is agree' and 'will agreeing' are ungrammatical.

Trick: If + simple present; stative verbs (agree, know, like) – no -ing.

Answer: (D) everyone agrees

Concept: 'One of + plural noun' – the noun after 'one of the/India's' must be plural.

1. 'one of India's premier tiger reserve' → noun should be plural.
2. Correct: 'one of India's premier tiger reserves'.
3. Other parts are fine: 'The Pench Tiger Reserve is' and 'the first to span two states'.

Trick: One of + plural noun + singular verb.

Answer: (B) one of India's premier tiger reserve

Concept: Find the logical chain: introduce the rocket → where it was assembled → moving it → the equipment used, which leads to F (the crane).

1. A ends with India's first rocket launch; E names that rocket ('It was a sounding rocket…').
2. C tells where it was assembled – the church building.
3. B: it had to be shifted from the church to the launch pad.
4. D: the only equipment was a truck and a crane → F: the crane began tilting.

Trick: 'It' in E refers to the rocket in A; 'crane' in D links to the crane in F.

Answer: (B) ECBD

Concept: Parallel verbs joined by 'and' should be in the same tense; the sentence is in the past ('was', 'refused').

1. Underlined: 'decides to keep going' (present).
2. 'refused … and decided' – both past.
3. Correct: '…he refused to admit defeat and decided to keep going.'
4. (A) and (D) are wrong forms ('has decide' is ungrammatical).

Trick: Verbs joined by 'and' → same tense.

Answer: (B) decided to keep going

Concept: Indirect 'told … to + V1' becomes an imperative in direct speech; pronouns become second person and 'had finished' becomes 'have finished'.

1. 'told the children to draw' → said, "Children, draw …"
2. 'they had finished' → 'you have finished' (addressed to the children).
3. (A) keeps 'they had finished'; (C) adds 'Now' and changes wording; (D) changes the order into permission ('may').

Trick: told + to V1 (indirect) ↔ imperative (direct); past perfect → present perfect.

Answer: (B) The teacher said, “Children, draw the diagram of water cycle after you have finished writing.”

Concept: Use the correct time preposition/conjunction for sense: hands are washed before eating, not during it.

1. Underlined: 'during' – 'during having food' is unidiomatic, and washing hands during the meal gives the wrong sense.
2. Hygiene sense: wash hands before having food.
3. 'while' and 'as soon as' also give the wrong time sense.

Trick: Wash hands before (and after) meals.

Answer: (B) before

Concept: Choose the conjunction by the logical relation: four holidays (cause) → planning a trip (result) needs 'so'.

1. Underlined: 'but we are planning' – 'but' shows contrast, which does not exist.
2. Holidays are the reason; the trip is the result → 'so'.
3. 'since/because' would wrongly make the trip the cause of the holidays.

Trick: Cause, so result; result because cause.

Answer: (A) so we are planning

Concept: 'Stringent' means strict, rigid, demanding firm obedience to rules.

1. Opposite of strict/rigid = flexible (easily adjusted).
2. 'Exacting' is a synonym (demanding).
3. 'Satiated' (fully satisfied) and 'affordable' (cheap enough) are unrelated.

Trick: Stringent rules ↔ flexible rules.

Answer: (C) Flexible

Concept: 'Expressed uncertainty regarding his ability' must become a direct statement in which the speaker says he is not sure he can do it.

1. Reporting verb 'expressed uncertainty' → 'I'm not sure if …'.
2. 'his ability to meet' → 'I can meet' (first person).
3. (C) shows certainty of failure; (A) changes meaning; (B) 'uncertain to meet' is unidiomatic.

Trick: Uncertainty = 'not sure if/whether'.

Answer: (D) Alex said, “I’m not sure if I can meet the complex requirements of the project.”

Concept: 'asked if' (indirect yes/no question) becomes a direct question with inverted order; 'she was' → 'you are' when addressing the girl.

1. 'asked the little girl' → said to the little girl.
2. 'if she was hungry' → "Are you hungry?"
3. (A) and (C) keep third person 'she'; (D) keeps 'if', which is not used in direct speech.

Trick: asked if + S + V ↔ "Aux + S …?"

Answer: (B) Grandmother said to the little girl, “Are you hungry?”

Concept: The idiom 'break the ice' means to start a conversation and remove awkwardness or shyness among people.

1. Example: He told a joke to break the ice at the meeting.
2. Only 'ice' forms this fixed idiom; snow, fog and chill do not.

Yaad rakhein: Ice = coldness/awkwardness; breaking it starts friendliness.

Answer: (B) ice

Concept: With a modal, the passive is 'modal + be + V3'.

1. 'can scale' → 'can be scaled'.
2. Object 'the massive rock' becomes subject; 'by visitors' follows.
3. (A) misses 'can'; (B) misses 'be'; (C) changes the meaning completely.

Trick: can/may/must + be + V3.

Answer: (D) The massive rock can be scaled by visitors by climbing the 708-step path up to the top.

Concept: 'So that' introduces a clause of purpose – it tells why something was done.

1. She arranged the agenda carefully – purpose: every detail could be discussed.
2. 'so that … could' is the standard purpose structure.
3. 'even so' (despite this), 'as if' (comparison) and 'such as' (examples) do not show purpose.

Trick: Purpose clause → so that + can/could/may/might.

Answer: (D) so that

Concept: 'Despite' is never followed by 'of'; use 'despite + noun' or 'in spite of + noun'.

1. Underlined: 'Despite of the heavy rain'.
2. Correct: 'Despite the heavy rain'.
3. (A) keeps 'of'; (D) 'In spite the' misses 'of'.

Trick: Despite = In spite of (never 'despite of').

Answer: (C) Despite the heavy rain