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

Concept: In seventh heaven means being in a state of extreme happiness or bliss.

1. In some old beliefs the seventh heaven is the highest heaven, the place of greatest joy.
2. Example: She was in seventh heaven after topping the exam.
3. 'Extremely sad' is the opposite; the ceremony and God options are literal guesses.

Yaad rakhein: Seventh heaven = on cloud nine = over the moon (all mean very happy).

Answer: (D) Extremely happy

Concept: Bonhomie (French: bon = good, homme = man) means a cheerful, friendly nature; good fellowship.

1. Example: The bonhomie between the players was visible after the match.
2. 'Friendship' is closest to this warm friendliness.
3. 'Bad-natured', 'Enemy' and 'Disagreeable' all point to hostility — the opposite.

Trick: bon = good (as in bon voyage) → bonhomie = good-natured friendliness.

Answer: (C) Friendship

Concept: Partisan means strongly supporting one side, group or party, often without fair judgement — i.e. biased.

1. The sentence says the crowd was one-sided in nature.
2. 'Biased' = favouring one side unfairly — exact match.
3. 'Pitiful', 'Kind' and 'Destructive' do not relate to taking sides.

Yaad rakhein: Partisan ↔ impartial / neutral (antonyms); partisan = biased, one-sided.

Answer: (C) biased

Concept: Check each word letter by letter against its standard spelling.

1. Quarrelsome, Ecclesiastical (related to the church) and Bovine (related to cows) are correct.
2. The correct form is Calamitous (calamity → calamitous); there is no 'i' before 'ous'.
3. So 'Calamitious' is misspelt.

Trick: calamity drops 'y' and adds '-tous': calami + tous = calamitous (like 'momentous').

Answer: (D) Calamitious

Concept: Barbaric means savagely cruel, uncultured or primitive.

1. Its opposite is civilised = cultured, refined and humane.
2. 'Brutal' is a synonym of barbaric, not an antonym.
3. 'Indifferent' and 'Inquisitive' are unrelated in meaning.

Yaad rakhein: Barbaric / barbarous ↔ civilised / refined.

Answer: (D) Civilised

Concept: As good as gold is said (mostly of children) to mean very well-behaved and obedient.

1. Example: The kids were as good as gold while their parents were away.
2. Option (A) gives exactly this sense.
3. The other options take 'gold' literally.

Yaad rakhein: As good as gold = very well-behaved; 'good as one's word' = keeps promises (different idiom).

Answer: (A) A person who is obedient and well-behaved

Concept: Come up with = to produce or suggest an idea or plan.

1. 'Brought new ideas' means she produced or suggested new ideas → came up with.
2. It is also in past tense, matching the sentence.
3. 'Draw on' = make use of; 'Swept off' = carried away; 'Carry off' = win or manage successfully — none fit.

Yaad rakhein: Ideas, plans, solutions → come up with.

Answer: (C) Came up with

Concept: To judge a book by its cover = to form an opinion about someone or something only from outward appearance.

1. Usually used in the negative: Don't judge a book by its cover.
2. Option (C) states this exactly.
3. 'Good at evaluating people' is the opposite idea — the idiom warns against shallow judgement.

Yaad rakhein: Cover = outer look; the idiom = judging by looks alone.

Answer: (C) To evaluate people’s worth by their outward appearance

Concept: Like is followed by a gerund (like doing) or an infinitive (like to do); 'to meeting of people' mixes both wrongly.

1. 'like to meeting' is wrong — after 'to' (infinitive) we need the base verb, and 'of' is unnecessary.
2. 'like meeting people' — like + gerund + object — is correct.
3. 'like meet to', 'like to be meeting' and 'will like meeting with' are ungrammatical or change the meaning.

Yaad rakhein: like + V-ing or like + to + V1 — never 'like to + V-ing'.

Answer: (A) like meeting people

Concept: Two subjects joined by and form a plural subject and take a plural verb.

1. 'Vicky and Deepa' = plural → plural verb try (not 'tries').
2. 'their level best' is the correct fixed expression.
3. 'had tries' and 'have try' are wrong verb forms; 'tries their best level' has a singular verb and garbled idiom.

Yaad rakhein: A and B → plural verb (they try, not they tries).

Answer: (B) try their level best

Concept: Past continuous passive (was/were being + V3) becomes past continuous active (was/were + V-ing).

1. Passive: The movie was being released → tense = past continuous.
2. Agent is unstated, so use 'They'; 'They' takes 'were'.
3. Active: They were releasing the movie on Friday.
4. (B) and (C) are in present tense; (D) is present perfect continuous.

Yaad rakhein: was being + V3 ↔ was/were + V-ing (keep the same tense).

Answer: (A) They were releasing the movie on Friday.

Concept: Hold your horses = wait, slow down and think carefully before acting.

1. Example: Hold your horses! Read the contract before you sign it.
2. Option (D) — telling someone to stop and consider carefully — fits.
3. The other options read 'horses' literally or give an unrelated sense.

Yaad rakhein: Hold your horses = be patient, don't rush.

Answer: (D) To tell someone to stop and consider carefully

Concept: Malevolence (Latin male = badly, volens = wishing) = the wish to do evil to others; ill will, hatred.

1. Malevolence = hatred / ill will — matches.
2. Malleable = easily shaped; Magnanimous = generous, forgiving.
3. Malapropos = inappropriate, out of place.

Trick: mal- = bad: malevolence = bad will; its opposite is benevolence (good will).

Answer: (B) Malevolence

Concept: A gourmet is a connoisseur of good food and drink — a person with refined taste in eating.

1. Epicure also means a person who takes particular pleasure in fine food and drink.
2. Hence Gourmet = Epicure.
3. 'Indifferent', 'Detached' and 'Non-indulgent' suggest lack of interest — the opposite.

Yaad rakhein: Gourmet = epicure = connoisseur of food; glutton = one who simply eats too much.

Answer: (C) Epicure

Concept: Never use a double comparative: either more + adjective or adjective + -er, not both. 'Beautiful' takes 'more'.

1. 'more beautifuler' is a double comparative and 'beautifuler' is not a word.
2. 'than I expected' needs a comparative → was more beautiful.
3. 'was beautiful' (positive) and 'was most beautiful' (superlative) cannot go with 'than'; 'is being' changes the tense.

Yaad rakhein: Long adjectives (3+ syllables) → more / most; 'than' always needs the comparative.

Answer: (A) was more beautiful

Concept: Use a before a consonant sound and an before a vowel sound; also 'in the flow of capital' is the natural phrase.

1. 'an slow' is wrong; 'slow' begins with a consonant sound → 'a'.
2. 'a sluggish change in the flow of capital' keeps the meaning 'slow' (sluggish = slow) with correct article and phrase.
3. 'an deliberate', 'an sudden' have wrong articles; 'abrupt' changes the meaning from slow to sudden.

Yaad rakhein: a + consonant sound, an + vowel sound; keep the original meaning while correcting.

Answer: (B) a sluggish change in the flow of capital

Concept: Instead of + noun/gerund means 'in place of'; 'instead' alone cannot take an object.

1. 'work instead waste time' lacks 'of' → instead of wasting time.
2. 'despite' and 'in spite of' mean 'although' — they give the wrong sense (work although wasting time).
3. So improvement is required, and (D) is correct.

Yaad rakhein: instead of + V-ing = in place of doing; in spite of = despite = even though.

Answer: (D) instead of wasting time

Concept: Detachment = being emotionally uninvolved; objectivity, aloofness.

1. The opposite of detached, objective judgement is personal involvement — subjectivity.
2. 'Neutrality' is a synonym of detachment.
3. 'Justice' and 'Humour' are unrelated.

Yaad rakhein: Detachment / objectivity ↔ involvement / subjectivity.

Answer: (D) Subjectivity

Concept: Wet blanket = a person who spoils other people's fun or enthusiasm.

1. A wet blanket thrown on a fire puts it out — similarly such a person 'puts out' others' joy.
2. Example: Don't be a wet blanket; come to the party.
3. Other options (stupid, ill, untrustworthy) do not match.

Trick: Wet blanket on a fire → fire dies → fun dies; also called a killjoy or party pooper.

Answer: (B) One who spoils other people’s fun

Concept: A is used before consonant sounds and an before vowel sounds.

1. 'catchment' (k-sound), 'river' (r-sound) and 'lake' (l-sound) all begin with consonant sounds → a.
2. So: a catchment area … a river, reservoir or a lake — option (B).
3. (A), (C) and (D) wrongly use 'an' before at least one consonant sound.

Yaad rakhein: Go by the first sound, not the letter: a university, an hour.

Answer: (B) Sentence (B) — 'above a catchment area such as a river, reservoir or a lake'