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

Concept: A reflexive pronoun must agree with its subject. The subject is I, so the reflexive is myself.

1. ‘to steady itself’ refers back to ‘I’, so ‘itself’ is wrong.
2. Correct: “I had to hold on to the wall to steady myself or I could have fallen.”
3. The other segments are grammatical.

Yaad rakhein: I → myself, you → yourself, he → himself, it → itself.

Answer: (B) to steady itself

Concept: Revive = to restore to life, health or strength; to bring back.

1. The opposite is to destroy – ruin.
2. ‘renew’ and ‘arouse’ are close in meaning to revive; ‘console’ means to comfort – unrelated.

Yaad rakhein: Revive (jaan daalna) ↔ Ruin (barbaad karna).

Answer: (C) ruin

Concept: Make one’s mark = to become famous or successful; to gain recognition.

1. E.g. “She made her mark as a scientist” = she became well known.
2. So the meaning is attain recognition.
3. ‘sign a deal’ is the literal sense of ‘mark’ as signature – a trap; ‘leave a clue’, ‘claim a right’ are unrelated.

Yaad rakhein: Make one’s mark = apni pehchaan banana.

Answer: (D) attain recognition

Concept: ‘Furniture’ is an uncountable noun – it always takes a singular verb; and furniture is sold by someone, so the passive is needed.

1. Present simple passive, singular: is sold.
2. ‘are sold’ uses a plural verb – wrong with ‘furniture’.
3. ‘were selling’ and ‘has sold’ are active forms (furniture cannot sell anything).

Yaad rakhein: Furniture, luggage, information, advice – uncountable → singular verb.

Answer: (A) is sold

Concept: Choose the connector by the logic: the sentence states a condition, not a contrast.

1. Meaning: you cannot lead a healthy life if you do not stop smoking.
2. ‘although’ shows contrast and makes the sentence illogical.
3. Correct: “You cannot lead a healthy life unless you stop smoking.” – the error is in ‘although you’.

Yaad rakhein: Unless = if … not. Although = contrast (in spite of the fact).

Answer: (D) although you

Concept: Something new that a person designs and makes for the first time is invented.

1. The passage says Banaji ‘designed a whole slew of instruments’ – he created them.
2. So: has invented over a dozen surgical instruments.
3. ‘discovered’ is for something already existing (e.g. a law of nature); ‘recovered’ = got back; ‘founded’ = established an institution.

Yaad rakhein: Invent = make new; Discover = find what already exists.

Answer: (B) invented

Concept: Before a designation used in apposition with a person’s name, the article the is used.

1. ‘When the senior eye surgeon at Max Eye Care started Lasik…’ – a particular, identified surgeon (Banaji).
2. ‘they’, ‘these’, ‘those’ are plural and cannot go with the singular ‘senior eye surgeon’.

Yaad rakhein: Singular, specific person/post → ‘the’ (the principal, the senior surgeon).

Answer: (D) the

Concept: ‘Surgeons’ is a plural countable noun; the sense is ‘very small number’ (Lasik was new).

1. ‘there were few surgeons doing it worldwide’ – hardly any.
2. ‘little’ is for uncountable nouns; ‘any’ needs a negative/question; ‘more’ needs a comparison (‘than’).

Yaad rakhein: few + plural countable (few surgeons); little + uncountable (little time).

Answer: (C) few

Concept: The instruments needed were ones made for this particular purpose – i.e. specific to Lasik.

1. ‘no specific instruments were available either’ – no instruments designed especially for Lasik.
2. That is why he designed his own (Necessity → invention).
3. ‘limited’, ‘correct’, ‘exact’ do not express ‘meant for this purpose’.

Yaad rakhein: Specific instruments = instruments meant for a particular use.

Answer: (D) specific

Concept: The result clause says his instruments made his surgery ‘more efficient’ – he wants things to be flawless.

1. “As I want things perfect, I designed a whole slew of instruments…”
2. ‘popular’ (liked by many), ‘punitive’ (punishing) and ‘prolific’ (producing a lot) do not fit the desire for efficiency.

Yaad rakhein: Want things perfect = perfectionist attitude → better tools.

Answer: (C) perfect

Concept: Depredation = an act of attacking, plundering or destroying.

1. Its opposite is building up – construction.
2. ‘plunder’, ‘devastation’ and ‘pillage’ all mean destruction/looting – synonyms.

Yaad rakhein: Depredation (loot-paat, vinaash) ↔ Construction (nirmaan).

Answer: (D) construction

Concept: None but = no one except; it singles out the subject as the only one.

1. “None but you deserve credit for the success of the show” = only you deserve the credit.
2. ‘No less’ needs ‘than’; ‘Such that’ and ‘Only if’ introduce clauses and cannot stand before a pronoun subject like this.

Yaad rakhein: None but + person = only that person (None but the brave deserve the fair).

Answer: (C) None but

Concept: The correct spelling is commotion (noisy disturbance, confusion).

1. It begins with com- (double ‘m’): com-mo-tion.
2. It ends in -tion, not ‘-sion’.
3. ‘camotion’, ‘cammosion’, ‘comosion’ break one of these rules.

Yaad rakhein: com + motion = commotion (motion with double m).

Answer: (B) commotion

Concept: Strike while (when) the iron is hot = act promptly while the circumstances are favourable.

1. A blacksmith shapes iron only while it is hot; once it cools the chance is lost.
2. So it means grab a favourable opportunity promptly.
3. ‘torture someone with a hot iron’ is a literal trap; ‘wait patiently’ is the opposite.

Yaad rakhein: Mauke ka fayda turant uthao – jab tak loha garam hai, hathoda maaro.

Answer: (D) grab a favourable opportunity promptly

Concept: Wrench (verb) = to pull or twist something away suddenly and forcibly.

1. Wrest = to pull away forcibly from someone’s grasp – same meaning.
2. ‘deter’ (discourage), ‘reject’ (refuse) and ‘supply’ (provide) do not match.

Yaad rakhein: Wrench = Wrest = Jerk away (jhatka dekar cheenna).

Answer: (B) wrest

Concept: Spelling rule ‘i before e except after c’: besiege has ‘ie’ after ‘s’.

1. Correct spelling: be-siege (like siege).
2. ‘beseige’ uses ‘ei’ – so it is misspelt.
3. ‘bereave’, ‘beguile’, ‘bemoan’ are all correctly spelt.

Yaad rakhein: siege → besiege (i before e).

Answer: (D) beseige

Concept: A harsh, unpleasant mixture of sounds is called cacophony.

1. cacophony: ‘kakos’ (bad) + ‘phone’ (sound).
2. ‘harmony’ and ‘symphony’ are pleasant, well-combined sounds – opposite.
3. ‘monotony’ = dull sameness, not harshness.

Yaad rakhein: Cacophony (karkash dhvani) ↔ Euphony (madhur dhvani).

Answer: (B) cacophony

Concept: For units of sale and measurement we use by: by the dozen, by the kilo, by the metre.

1. “Eggs are sold by the dozen.”
2. ‘at’ goes with a price (at ₹60 a dozen); ‘in’ and ‘to’ are not used for units of sale.

Yaad rakhein: Sold by the dozen / by weight; sold at a price.

Answer: (B) by

Concept: Arranging events in the order of their dates is chronology.

1. chronology: ‘chronos’ (time) + ‘logy’ (study/order).
2. ‘analogy’ = comparison; ‘trilogy’ = set of three works; ‘theology’ = study of religion.

Yaad rakhein: Chrono = time (chronometer, chronic, chronology).

Answer: (C) chronology

Concept: A person trained to travel into space is an astronaut.

1. astronaut: ‘astron’ (star) + ‘nautes’ (sailor) – a ‘star-sailor’.
2. ‘pilot’ flies aircraft; ‘physicist’ and ‘scientist’ are researchers, not space travellers.

Yaad rakhein: Astronaut (USA), Cosmonaut (Russia), Vyomanaut (India), Taikonaut (China).

Answer: (A) astronaut