SSC CPO Paper II 2021, 2025 PYQs

Concept: 'Ought' is always followed by 'to + V1'; to reduce something gradually is 'cut down (on)', while 'cut out' means remove completely.

1. Underlined: 'ought cut out' – 'to' is missing.
2. Reducing fat intake to lose weight → 'cut down'.
3. Correct: 'You ought to cut down your consumption of fats …'.
4. (C) still misses 'to'; (D) changes the sense.

Trick: ought to + V1; cut down = reduce.

Answer: (A) ought to cut down

Concept: For a period of time use 'for'; for a starting point use 'since'. An action continuing till now takes the present perfect continuous.

1. Underlined: 'has been working since' – 'five years' is a period.
2. Correct: 'has been working for five years'.
3. (B) simple present and (C) 'since' are wrong.

Trick: for + period (five years); since + point (2020, Monday).

Answer: (D) has been working for

Concept: Fixed prepositions: 'search for' something; hidden 'in' the shadows.

1. 'searching for clues' – search for = look for.
2. 'hidden in the shadows' – in = inside an area/darkness.
3. 'searching from/to/over' are not idiomatic here.

Trick: search for, look for, hidden in.

Answer: (B) for; in

Concept: With 'said' (past), 'will' becomes 'would', pronouns change to suit the speaker and listener, and 'tomorrow' becomes 'the next day'.

1. 'I' → 'she'; 'you' → 'him'.
2. 'will call' → 'would call'.
3. 'tomorrow' → 'the next day'.
4. (A) keeps 'will' and 'tomorrow'; (B) keeps 'I/you'; (D) keeps 'you'.

Trick: will → would; tomorrow → the next day.

Answer: (C) She said to him that she would call him the next day.

Concept: 'So' is used before an adjective/adverb alone; 'such' is used before a noun phrase (such a quiet man).

1. 'quietly' is an adverb → 'so quietly that'.
2. Correct: 'He entered the room so quietly that none of us noticed him.'
3. Other segments are correct.

Trick: so + adj/adverb + that; such + (a) + adj + noun + that.

Answer: (B) such quietly that

Concept: Simple present active (V1/V1+s) becomes 'is/are + V3' in the passive voice.

1. 'prepares' → 'is prepared'.
2. Object 'a special dish' becomes subject; 'by the chef'.
3. (B) present perfect, (C) present continuous, (D) future – tense changed.

Trick: V1/V1+s ↔ is/am/are + V3.

Answer: (A) A special dish is prepared by the chef every evening.

Concept: Find the opening sentence (it introduces both characters and the action), then follow the movement and description.

1. B opens: Otsov goes to the river to look for Gryabov.
2. D: going down to the river, he found him (Gryabov).
3. A describes Gryabov sitting on the sand, angling → C: 'His hat … his cravat' continues the description.

Trick: Action (B, D) → description of the person found (A, C).

Answer: (C) BDAC

Concept: The proverb 'Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder' means that beauty is subjective – different people find different things beautiful.

1. Beholder = the person who looks.
2. Only 'Beauty' completes this well-known saying.
3. Love, happiness and nature do not form the proverb.

Yaad rakhein: Beauty is subjective → lies in the eyes of the beholder.

Answer: (B) Beauty

Concept: Phobia words: 'claustro' (closed space) + 'phobia' (fear) = fear of being in closed spaces.

1. Claustrophobia – fear of confined spaces (lifts, tunnels).
2. Acrophobia – fear of heights.
3. Cacophobia – fear of ugliness; Hydrophobia – fear of water.

Yaad rakhein: Claustro = closed (like 'cloister'); Acro = height; Hydro = water.

Answer: (A) Claustrophobia

Concept: Present perfect passive 'has been + V3' becomes 'has/have + V3' in the active voice; the agent becomes the subject.

1. 'has been invited by the National High School' → present perfect.
2. Active: 'The National High School has invited our team …'.
3. (A) present continuous, (C) simple past; (D) reverses who invited whom.

Trick: has been + V3 ↔ has + V3.

Answer: (B) The National High School has invited our team to play hockey with them.

Concept: While changing indirect speech to direct speech, the past perfect of the reported clause usually goes back to the simple past, and pronouns change back to the speaker's point of view.

1. Reporting verb 'told me' → 'she told me' with inverted commas.
2. 'she had visited' → 'I visited' (past perfect → simple past; she → I).
3. 'last summer' stays as it is because it already belongs to the speaker's time frame.
4. Options with 'will visit', 'am visiting' or 'next summer' change the meaning; 'have been visiting last summer' is ungrammatical.

Trick: Indirect → Direct: had + V3 → V2, and the third-person subject becomes 'I'.

Answer: (D) “I visited Paris last summer,” she told me.

Concept: An interrogative passive 'By whom + was/were + subject + V3?' becomes an active question 'Who + V2 + object?' with the same tense.

1. 'By whom' → 'Who' (subject of the active sentence).
2. 'was ... made' is simple past passive → active verb 'made'.
3. Object: 'this painting' → 'Who made this painting?'
4. 'Whom' cannot be a subject; 'has made' and 'was making' change the tense.

Trick: By whom ... was + V3? → Who + V2 ...?

Answer: (A) Who made this painting?

Concept: 'Resilient' means able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.

1. The given phrase exactly describes 'Resilient'.
2. Remnant = a small remaining part.
3. Reliant = dependent on someone or something.
4. Relevant = connected with the matter in hand.

Yaad rakhein: Resilient = one who bounces back; noun: resilience.

Answer: (D) Resilient

Concept: 'Grief' means intense sorrow, especially caused by someone's death.

1. The given phrase exactly describes 'Grief'.
2. Ache = a continuous dull physical pain.
3. Torture = causing severe pain deliberately.
4. Worry = anxiety about possible problems.

Yaad rakhein: Grief → grieve (verb); 'grief-stricken' = shocked by death.

Answer: (A) Grief

Concept: The idiom 'tall talk' means boastful or exaggerated talk.

1. 'Tall' here means unbelievable or exaggerated (as in 'a tall story').
2. So 'tall talk' = exaggerating things, bragging.
3. It has nothing to do with illogical arguments, sorrow or heated quarrels.
4. Example: His claims of meeting the President were just tall talk.

Yaad rakhein: Tall talk / tall claims / tall story — all point to exaggeration.

Answer: (B) Exaggerating things

Concept: 'Who' is used as a relative pronoun for persons; 'which' is used for animals and things.

1. The antecedent is 'Those people' — persons.
2. So 'which' must be replaced by 'who': 'Those people who do not get sufficient sleep...'.
3. The other parts ('sufficient sleep at night', 'suffer from a disease', 'called insomnia') are correct.

Trick: Persons → who/whom/whose; things/animals → which.

Answer: (B) Those people which do not get

Concept: When two persons/groups are compared with 'than', the comparative degree is used, not the superlative.

1. Two groups are compared: boys and girls, with 'than'.
2. 'best' is superlative and cannot go with 'than'.
3. Correct: 'Primary school boys did better than girls.'
4. The other parts are grammatically fine.

Trick: 'than' always needs a comparative: good → better → best.

Answer: (C) Primary school boys did best than girls

Concept: In a compound sentence each clause is changed into passive separately: object becomes subject, verb becomes 'was/were + V3', and the doer goes after 'by'.

1. Clause 1: 'He gathered the men' → 'The men were gathered'.
2. Clause 2: 'brought the priest' → 'the priest was brought by him'.
3. Purpose phrase 'to witness the death' stays unchanged.
4. Options B and C change the meaning; D wrongly makes the men the doers.

Trick: Simple past: V2 → was/were + V3; keep the purpose phrase as it is.

Answer: (A) The men were gathered and the priest was brought by him to witness the death.

Concept: Simple future passive 'Will + subject + be + V3?' becomes active 'Will + doer + V1 + object?'.

1. The doer is not stated; from 'your lawns' it is 'you'.
2. 'Will ... be organised' → 'Will you organise'.
3. Object: 'the Lohri function' → 'Will you organise the Lohri function in your lawns this year?'
4. A (continuous) and B (perfect) change the tense; C reverses the meaning.

Trick: will be + V3 → will + V1 (simple future).

Answer: (D) Will you organise the Lohri function in your lawns this year?

Concept: 'Let off' means to release someone without punishment or with only a light punishment; 'let out' means to release from a place or to reveal.

1. The sentence says the offence was serious, yet he escaped with only a warning.
2. So the correct phrasal verb is 'let off': 'he was let off with a warning'.
3. Simple past 'was' matches the narrative; 'had been let off' and 'is let out' break the tense sequence.

Trick: 'Let off with a warning/fine' = escape full punishment; 'let out' = release from a place or reveal.

Answer: (C) was let off