SSC CPO Paper I 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 PYQs

Concept: Superheroes have powers far beyond those of normal people.

1. Extraordinary = very unusual, beyond the ordinary – fits 'superheroes ... powers'.
2. Pragmatic = practical; Hereditary = inherited; Familiar = well known/common – none describes super powers.

Trick: Super-hero → extra-ordinary powers.

Answer: (A) extraordinary

Concept: A relative clause 'that ___' needs a finite verb agreeing with its antecedent.

1. Antecedent 'backstories' is plural and the passage is in simple present (have, use, wear).
2. So: backstories that explain how they gained their powers.
3. 'explaining' is non-finite; 'was explain' and 'had explain' are ungrammatical.

Trick: Plural noun + that + base verb (no –s) in present tense.

Answer: (C) explain

Concept: The blank introduces examples of how powers were gained.

1. Born with powers, bitten by a radioactive spider, exposed to cosmic radiation – a list of examples.
2. Examples are introduced by such as.
3. Therefore = result; subsequently = later; instead = alternative – none introduces examples.

Trick: List of examples follows → 'such as' / 'like'.

Answer: (D) such as

Concept: A reflexive pronoun must agree with its subject in number and person.

1. Subject: 'They' (superheroes) – third person plural.
2. They wear outfits to protect themselves.
3. Ourselves = we; herself/himself = singular – mismatch.

Trick: They → themselves; we → ourselves; he → himself.

Answer: (A) themselves

Concept: With present perfect and a period of time, we use for.

1. 'have been a staple ... ___ decades' – decades is a length of time.
2. So: for decades.
3. 'on' is for days/dates; 'under' and 'above' are not used for duration.

Yaad rakhein: for + period (for decades); since + point of time (since 1938).

Answer: (A) for

Concept: Realize (in the passage: 'To realize this truth') = to understand clearly.

1. Its opposite is misunderstand = understand wrongly.
2. Understand, comprehend and grasp are synonyms of realize.

Trick: Prefix mis- gives the opposite: understand → misunderstand.

Answer: (A) Misunderstand

Concept: The passage says ancient Greece, Egypt and India had great civilizations, 'But they are not nations'.

1. So ancient India was an ancient civilization but not an ancient nation – statement (C).
2. (A) is wrong: modern people imagine their nation as ancient, not that ancient nations existed in fact.
3. (B) contradicts the author, who asks us to forget school history; (D) – these media make the nation seem ancient, not modern.

Trick: Match the option to a direct line of the passage.

Answer: (C) Ancient India is an ancient civilization but not an ancient nation.

Concept: Obvious = easily seen or understood; plain.

1. Synonym: clear.
2. Dubious, ambiguous and doubtful all mean uncertain/unclear – they are antonyms.

Trick: Obvious = clear; the other three all carry 'doubt'.

Answer: (B) clear

Concept: The author says it is 'that history, drilled into your heads ... that make[s] it seem obvious to you that your nation is ancient'.

1. The author holds that no nation is ancient.
2. School history taught that our nation is ancient, so we must forget it to see the truth – option (A).
3. (B) is a separate remark; (C) reverses the claim; (D) – festivals make the nation seem ancient, not modern.

Trick: Look for the 'because' line in the passage.

Answer: (A) because the history book taught us that our nation is ancient

Concept: Drill something into someone's head = to teach something by repeating it again and again.

1. In the passage, history was 'drilled into your heads from the time you were children' – taught repeatedly.
2. So it means: make someone learn or understand something by repeating it.
3. Threatening, forcing the head to move or questioning are literal/incorrect readings.

Trick: Drill = repeated practice (like a military drill).

Answer: (A) make someone learn or understand something by repeating it

Concept: ‘Rapt’ means completely absorbed or fascinated; giving full attention.

1. ‘Rapt listeners’ = listeners who are totally absorbed in the music.
2. ‘Fully attentive’ carries exactly this sense.
3. ‘Really fashionable’, ‘boldly dressed’ describe looks; ‘truly energetic’ describes activity – none means absorbed attention.

Yaad rakhein: rapt = rapt attention = full attention (do not confuse with ‘wrapped’).

Answer: (D) fully attentive

Concept: ‘Decline’ (verb) means to go down, decrease or sink.

1. Opposite of going down = going up.
2. ‘Ascend’ means to rise or climb up – the exact antonym.
3. ‘Escape’ (get away), ‘Demonstrate’ (show), ‘Traverse’ (travel across) are unrelated.

Yaad rakhein: Decline ↔ Ascend, Descend ↔ Ascend – think ‘down vs up’.

Answer: (B) Ascend

Concept: ‘Quite’ is an adverb (= fairly/completely); ‘quiet’ is an adjective (= calm, silent). An adjective is needed before the noun ‘afternoon’.

1. ‘a quite afternoon’ is wrong – ‘quite’ cannot describe a noun.
2. Use the adjective ‘quiet’: a calm, silent afternoon.
3. ‘quiet’ begins with a consonant sound /kw/, so the article is ‘a’, not ‘an’.

Yaad rakhein: quiet = silent (adjective); quite = very/fairly (adverb).

Answer: (D) a quiet

Concept: ‘An’ is used before a word beginning with a vowel sound; a singular countable noun (‘list’) needs an article.

1. The blank comes before ‘exhaustive’, which starts with the vowel sound /ɪg/.
2. ‘list’ is singular countable, so an indefinite article is needed – ‘an’.
3. ‘many’ needs a plural noun; ‘a’ does not suit a vowel sound; ‘no word’ leaves the singular noun without an article.

Yaad rakhein: The article depends on the sound of the very next word (exhaustive → an).

Answer: (B) an

Concept: A ‘left-handed compliment’ is a remark that looks like praise but is actually an insult.

1. She seemed to praise the hair (‘liked my hair’), but ‘it turned out’ signals a hidden meaning.
2. So the remark was really an insult disguised as praise.
3. ‘A praise’ and ‘a flattery’ are the surface meaning only; ‘a joke’ is not the sense.

Yaad rakhein: Left-handed compliment = backhanded compliment = taunt dressed as praise.

Answer: (C) An insult

Concept: ‘Redemption’ means being saved or delivered from sin or evil; deliverance.

1. Its religious opposite is an act of disrespect towards God or sacred things.
2. ‘Blasphemy’ = speaking irreverently of God/sacred things – the opposite of spiritual salvation.
3. ‘Salvation’ is a synonym; ‘Corrugation’ (folds/ridges) and ‘Conjunction’ (joining) are unrelated.

Yaad rakhein: Redemption ≈ Salvation; opposite side = Blasphemy (sin against the sacred).

Answer: (B) Blasphemy

Concept: Present perfect continuous tense: has/have + been + verb-ing.

1. The question is in the present perfect continuous: ‘Have they been … for several years?’
2. After ‘been’ the verb must take the ‘-ing’ form: ‘working’, not ‘work’.
3. Correct: Have they been working in that particular shop for several years?

Yaad rakhein: have/has been + V-ing + for/since → continuing action.

Answer: (A) work

Concept: Adverbs from adjectives ending in ‘-ous’ add ‘-ly’: ridiculous → ridiculously.

1. ‘jovial’ in the sentence is spelt correctly.
2. ‘ridiculusly’ is wrong – the adjective is ‘ridiculous’ (r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s).
3. Adding ‘-ly’ gives ‘ridiculously’; ‘ridicolusly’, ‘jouvial’, ‘juvial’ are all wrong spellings.

Yaad rakhein: ridicule → ridiculous → ridiculously (keep the ‘-ous’).

Answer: (D) ridiculously

Concept: ‘Unless’ already means ‘if … not’, so the clause with ‘unless’ is positive and in the simple present (for a future condition).

1. ‘Unless you do not prepare’ would be a double negative – wrong.
2. Rule: Unless + simple present, main clause + will + V1.
3. So: Unless you prepare well, you will not perform well.
4. ‘will prepare’ / ‘will do not prepare’ use ‘will’ in the condition clause; ‘would not prepare’ is negative and wrong tense.

Yaad rakhein: Unless = if not → never add ‘not’ or ‘will’ after unless.

Answer: (B) prepare

Concept: ‘Bite the bullet’ means to face an unpleasant but unavoidable situation bravely.

1. The idiom comes from patients biting a bullet to bear pain during surgery.
2. So it means deciding to do the difficult/inevitable thing you had been putting off.
3. ‘Decide to take the easier way out’ is the opposite; ‘bite something hard’ is literal.

Yaad rakhein: Bite the bullet = stop avoiding it, face it.

Answer: (C) Decide to do the inevitable which you were avoiding