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

Concept: Languid means weak, slow, lacking energy or vigour.

1. A languid person moves slowly and without enthusiasm.
2. The opposite = full of energy = Energetic.
3. Lazy is a near-synonym; Exceptional and Loyal are unrelated.

Trick: Languid = Sluggish, Listless ↔ Energetic, Lively.

Answer: (D) Energetic

Concept: Under the weather is an idiom meaning slightly unwell or ill.

1. "She’s feeling under the weather today" = she is a little sick today.
2. It has nothing to do with being happy, adventurous or worried.
3. So the meaning is "She’s not feeling well or is a bit sick."

Trick: Under the weather = unwell; Feeling blue = sad; On cloud nine = very happy.

Answer: (D) She’s not feeling well or is a bit sick.

Concept: Greek andro- = man/male and -mania = madness/obsession.

1. Andro + mania = Andromania – obsession with men (males).
2. Misandrist = one who hates men; Polygamy = having more than one spouse; Loquacious = talkative.
3. Hence Andromania fits.

Yaad rakhein: Andro = man (Androphobia = fear of men); Gyno = woman (Gynomania).

Answer: (D) Andromania

Concept: Check each word for correct spelling.

1. Assimilation, Pluckiness and Accumulation are all spelt correctly.
2. The word intended in (D) is Existentialism (philosophy of individual existence and freedom).
3. 'Exestenalism' has wrong vowels and missing letters, so it is incorrectly spelt.

Trick: Exist + ential + ism = Existentialism.

Answer: (D) Exestenalism

Concept: When a negative expression (Not a word, Never, Hardly) begins a sentence, we use inversion: auxiliary + subject + verb, and no second negative.

1. 'Not a word' is already negative, so 'didn’t' makes a double negative – wrong.
2. Past context ('the sad turn of events') → did + subject + base verb.
3. Correct: "Not a word did they speak to the others…". 'had they speak' needs 'spoken'; 'do' is wrong tense.

Trick: Negative opener → question-order (did they speak), never a second 'not'.

Answer: (A) did they speak

Concept: A vicious cycle (vicious circle) is a chain of events where each problem causes another that makes the first one worse.

1. Example: poverty → poor education → low income → more poverty.
2. The loop keeps feeding itself, so the original problem cannot be solved easily.
3. Option (A) states exactly this; (B) and (C) say the problem becomes easy, (D) talks of merging problems.

Trick: Vicious cycle = problem loop (bad); Virtuous cycle = good results feed more good results.

Answer: (A) a situation in which one problem causes another one, making the original problem impossible to solve.

Concept: Past Perfect (had + V3) is used for the earlier of two past actions; Simple Past is used for the later one.

1. First action: I finished my cooking → had done (past perfect).
2. Later action: Vishnu came → came (simple past).
3. "I had done my cooking when Vishnu came to see me" is correct, so there is no error.

Trick: Earlier past → had + V3; later past → V2.

Answer: (A) No error

Concept: Uni- = one, corn (Latin cornu) = horn.

1. A mythological horse-like animal with a single horn on its forehead = Unicorn.
2. Unicameral = having one legislative house; Unipod = one-legged support; Unific = making one/uniting.

Yaad rakhein: Uni + corn (horn) = Unicorn; Capricorn = goat-horned.

Answer: (D) Unicorn

Concept: The margin of victory is expressed with the preposition by: win by a majority / by 5 votes.

1. Margin of a win → 'by'.
2. 'Sweeping majority' is a single (indefinite) majority → article a, not 'the'.
3. Correct: "Mr. Patel is likely to win the elections by a sweeping majority." 'on', 'of', 'at' are wrong.

Trick: Win by a margin, win by a majority, lose by two runs.

Answer: (A) elections by a sweeping majority

Concept: An introvert is a reserved person who turns inward and does not express himself freely.

1. One who keeps feelings to himself, is shy and reserved = Introvert.
2. Outgoing and Approachable are the opposite (friendly, sociable).
3. Immodest = boastful, not humble.

Trick: Intro (inward) → Introvert; Extro (outward) → Extrovert.

Answer: (C) Introvert

Concept: The best of both worlds means enjoying the advantages of two different things at the same time.

1. E.g. working from home gives the best of both worlds – a career and time with family.
2. Having all advantages without the drawbacks = good in every way.
3. Other options (everyone gets a chance, stay strong, do a good job) do not match.

Trick: Best of both worlds = all benefits, no compromise.

Answer: (D) Good in every way

Concept: Living hand to mouth means having only just enough money to survive, with nothing saved.

1. After losing a job, a person has little money and spends whatever comes in on basic needs.
2. So 'living without a lot of money' = living hand to mouth.
3. Receiving a kickback = taking a bribe; keeping my chin up = staying cheerful; as genuine as a three-dollar bill = fake.

Trick: Hand to mouth = barely surviving financially.

Answer: (B) living hand to mouth

Concept: Find the misspelt word in the sentence and choose its correct form.

1. 'notebly' is incorrect; the correct adverb is notably (notable + -ly → notably).
2. Other words in the sentence (purpose, discussed, culinary) are spelt correctly there.
3. Options 'Parpose', 'Discused', 'Cullinary' are themselves misspellings.

Trick: notable → notably (drop 'e', add 'y'): probable → probably.

Answer: (B) Notably

Concept: The verb expect (and passive 'be expected') is followed by the to-infinitive: expected to + base verb.

1. 'expected for reach' is wrong – 'for' cannot be followed by a base verb.
2. Correct: "The veteran footballer was expected to reach here by 10 o’clock."
3. 'on', 'of', 'by' + base verb are all ungrammatical.

Trick: Expect / hope / want / agree + to + V1.

Answer: (B) expected to reach here

Concept: Insouciant (from French) means showing a casual lack of concern; carefree, indifferent.

1. The sentence: the boys seem irresponsibly unconcerned about bullying juniors.
2. Correct spelling: in-sou-ci-ant → Insouciant.
3. Insoucient, Insuociant and Insouceant have wrong vowels.

Trick: French 'souci' = worry; in + souci + ant = without worry.

Answer: (C) Insouciant

Concept: The idiom is at the eleventh hour – at the last possible moment.

1. It comes from a parable where workers hired at the eleventh hour (just before the end of a 12-hour day) were still paid.
2. So 'last' is replaced by eleventh.
3. 'half', 'sixth', 'twelfth' do not form any idiom with hour in this sense.

Trick: At the eleventh hour = at the last moment (e.g. submitted the form at the eleventh hour).

Answer: (B) eleventh

Concept: The adjectives capable/incapable always take the preposition of followed by a noun or gerund (-ing).

1. incapable of + being tired.
2. Correct: "The Sumo wrestler seemed to be incapable of being tired."
3. 'in', 'from', 'to', 'by' are not used with incapable.

Trick: Capable of, incapable of, fond of, afraid of + V-ing.

Answer: (A) incapable of being tired

Concept: Bi- = two, lingual = relating to language. Bilingual = able to speak two languages.

1. The underlined part 'able to speak two languages' = bilingual.
2. Bicultural = belonging to two cultures; bidialectal = using two dialects; lingual alone just means 'of language/tongue'.

Yaad rakhein: Monolingual (1), Bilingual (2), Trilingual (3), Multilingual / Polyglot (many).

Answer: (A) bilingual

Concept: Names of rivers, seas and oceans take the definite article the: the Ganga, the Nile, the Indian Ocean.

1. In the sentence 'tributaries of Ganga' lacks the article.
2. Correct: "There are four tributaries of the Ganga and it is ranked as the fifth most polluted river of the world."
3. Other parts are correct ('the fifth most polluted', 'of the world').

Trick: Rivers, oceans, mountain ranges, deserts → 'the'.

Answer: (B) of Ganga and it

Concept: Bite the bullet means to face a painful or unpleasant situation bravely because it cannot be avoided.

1. Origin: soldiers bit a bullet to bear pain during surgery without anaesthesia.
2. E.g. "He bit the bullet and admitted his mistake."
3. It is the opposite of avoiding a situation; it is not about eating.

Trick: Bite the bullet = face it bravely; Bite the dust = fail/die.

Answer: (D) To face a difficult situation