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

Concept: Calm means peaceful, still, free from disturbance.

1. Turbulent = violently disturbed, stormy, chaotic – direct opposite (calm sea ↔ turbulent sea).
2. Shocked, Variable and Confused describe other states, not the opposite of stillness.

Trick: Calm waters ↔ turbulent waters.

Answer: (A) Turbulent

Concept: To perch (oneself) means to sit or rest on a high or narrow place, like a bird on a branch.

1. ‘The cat climbed a tree and perched itself on a branch’ is correct and meaningful.
2. Parched = very dry/thirsty; perked = became lively; perished = died – none fits.

Trick: Perch = sit on a branch/edge; parched = dry.

Answer: (B) No substitution required

Concept: The correct form is persistency (more commonly persistence) – it ends in ‘-ency/-ence’, not ‘-ancy’.

1. inconceivable, convictions and deductions are spelt correctly.
2. ‘persistancy’ wrongly uses ‘-ancy’; persist → persistent → persistence/persistency.

Trick: persistENT → persistENCE: the ‘e’ of the adjective stays in the noun.

Answer: (D) persistancy

Concept: A modal verb (would, can, will, should …) is always followed by the base form (V1) of the verb.

1. ‘would passes’ wrongly adds -es after the modal.
2. Correct: ‘I am sure Helena would pass with flying colours.’
3. ‘with flying colours’ (= with great success) is correct.

Trick: Modal + V1 only: would pass, can go, should eat.

Answer: (A) would passes

Concept: Discrepancy means a lack of agreement or a difference between things that should match.

1. The two audit reports should have matched but did not → a difference.
2. ‘great similarity’ is the opposite; ‘deliberate mistake’ and ‘selfish interest’ change the meaning.

Trick: Discrepancy = mismatch (आंकड़ों में अंतर).

Answer: (C) major difference

Concept: Despite is a preposition used without ‘of’; in spite of always takes ‘of’.

1. ‘Despite of an injury’ is wrong – ‘of’ is extra.
2. Correct: ‘Despite an injury, he won the match.’ (= In spite of an injury)
3. ‘In spite off’ and ‘In despite of’ are incorrect forms.

Trick: Despite – no ‘of’; In spite – needs ‘of’.

Answer: (C) Despite

Concept: A habitual action (signalled by often) takes the simple present; with a singular subject the verb takes -s/-es.

1. Subject ‘My teacher’ is third person singular.
2. So ‘forget’ → ‘forgets’: ‘My teacher often forgets the names of students.’
3. ‘was forgetting’, ‘forgot’ are past; ‘have been forgetting’ disagrees with a singular subject.

Trick: Often/usually/always + 3rd person singular → V1 + s/es.

Answer: (D) forgets

Concept: Loaves and fishes means material benefits or personal gains, especially those that come with a position.

1. The sentence contrasts selfish gains of office with ‘the service of man’ → ‘loaves and fishes of office’.
2. Leaps and bounds = rapid progress; wear and tear = damage from use; Herculean task = very hard task – none fits.

Trick: Loaves and fishes = रोटी-मछली = personal profit.

Answer: (B) loaves and fishes

Concept: Let the cat out of the bag means to reveal a secret, usually carelessly or by mistake.

1. Example: ‘The surprise party was ruined when Ravi let the cat out of the bag.’
2. ‘To hide the truth’ is the opposite; ‘hurry’ and ‘careful’ are unrelated.

Trick: Cat out of the bag = secret out (भेद खोल देना).

Answer: (D) To reveal a secret

Concept: Sluggish means slow-moving, lazy, lacking energy.

1. Swift = fast, quick – direct opposite.
2. Slow is a synonym; Abnormal and Utterly (an adverb) are unrelated.

Trick: Sluggish (like a slug, slow) ↔ swift.

Answer: (C) Swift

Concept: Pull yourself together means to regain control of your emotions and become calm after being upset.

1. Example: ‘Pull yourself together – crying won’t help now.’
2. ‘Feel agitated’ is the opposite; the options about the rich and orphans are irrelevant.

Trick: Pull yourself together = collect yourself = calm down.

Answer: (C) Calm down after an upsetting incident

Concept: Subject–verb agreement: a singular subject (he/she/it) takes is, not are.

1. ‘He are very thirsty’ → ‘He is very thirsty’.
2. ‘Give him a little water to drink’ is correct – a little = some (positive sense), used with uncountable ‘water’.

Trick: He/She/It + is/was/has; We/You/They + are/were/have.

Answer: (C) He are very thirsty

Concept: Talk through one’s hat means to talk foolishly or say nonsense about something one knows little about.

1. The speaker ignored him because his words were nonsense.
2. ‘Talking non-stop’/‘garrulously’ refer to quantity of speech, not its foolishness; ‘ignorantly’ is close but the standard meaning is ‘talking nonsense’.

Trick: Talking through the hat = बकवास करना.

Answer: (C) Talking nonsense

Concept: A glutton is a person who eats (or consumes) excessively.

1. Garrulous = excessively talkative.
2. Greedy = having excessive desire for anything (money, power) – an adjective, not specific to eating.
3. Gullible = easily deceived.

Trick: Glutton → gluttony = over-eating (पेटू).

Answer: (A) Glutton

Concept: Profane means secular/worldly, or showing disrespect to what is holy.

1. Divine = holy, of God – the opposite of profane (sacred ↔ profane).
2. Perverse = unreasonable/wicked; Immaterial = irrelevant; Barnyard = farmyard/crude.

Trick: Profane (अपवित्र/सांसारिक) ↔ divine/sacred (दिव्य/पवित्र).

Answer: (C) Divine

Concept: To express an opinion about how something appears to be, we use seem: ‘X seems too much’.

1. ‘Fifty rupees seems too much for such a pen’ = it appears to be an excessive price.
2. A sum of money is treated as singular → seems.
3. ‘looks’ is used for visual appearance; ‘minds’ and ‘price’ make no grammatical sense.

Trick: Amount of money (singular) + seems = an opinion of value.

Answer: (D) seems

Concept: Hideous means extremely ugly or unpleasant to look at.

1. Attractive = pleasing to look at – direct opposite.
2. Restorative = healing; Lament = express grief; Healthful = good for health – unrelated.

Trick: Hideous (बहुत भद्दा) ↔ attractive (आकर्षक).

Answer: (A) Attractive

Concept: The noun is formed from mountaineer (mountain + -eer): mountaineer → mountaineering.

1. ‘Mountainering’ misses the ‘e’ of the suffix -eer.
2. ‘Mounteineering’, ‘Mountainearing’ and ‘Mountainouring’ distort the spelling.
3. Correct: Mountaineering.

Trick: mountain + EER (like engineer) + ing.

Answer: (C) Mountaineering

Concept: Names of particular ships take the definite article the (the Titanic, the Neptune).

1. ‘a Neptune’ is in apposition to ‘One of their freighters’ and names one specific ship.
2. So it should be ‘the Neptune’: ‘One of their freighters, the Neptune, will be leaving in two weeks.’
3. ‘will be leaving in two weeks’ (future continuous for a planned event) is correct.

Trick: Ships, trains, rivers, oceans → ‘the’: the Titanic, the Rajdhani, the Ganga.

Answer: (D) a Neptune

Concept: Correct spelling: commuter (a person who travels regularly to work) – double ‘m’, single ‘t’.

1. ‘Comutter’ reverses the doubling (single m, double t) – incorrect.
2. Commission, Committee and Camouflage are spelt correctly.

Trick: coMMuTer – commute has double m like ‘community’.

Answer: (B) Comutter