SSC GD 2025 PYQs

Concept: Idioms carry a figurative, not literal, meaning.

1. 'Spill the beans' = to let out a secret (often too early).
2. Use: Don't spill the beans about her promotion till Friday.
3. Options about dropping, cooking or cleaning are literal readings — rejected.

Yaad rakhein: Similar idioms: 'let the cat out of the bag' = reveal a secret; opposite: 'keep it under wraps'.

Answer: (C) To tell people secret information

Concept: Composed = calm, settled; we need its opposite.

1. Composed (calm) ↔ agitated (disturbed, stirred up).
2. Sentence: The events agitated beautiful thoughts in her memory.
3. Rectified = corrected; focused = concentrated; secured = made safe — not opposites.

Yaad rakhein: Composure (noun) = calmness; 'lose one's composure' = become agitated.

Answer: (B) agitated

Concept: The blank describes someone who spoke openly about a problem.

1. Pointing out discrimination to the manager shows frankness.
2. Candid = honest and straightforward.
3. Reticent (quiet), inhibited (held back), laconic (few words) all mean holding back — wrong.

Trick: Three options share one idea (not speaking much); the odd one out with the opposite sense is the answer.

Answer: (C) candid

Concept: Some adjectives naturally pair with certain nouns.

1. 'Excruciating' = extremely painful, unbearable.
2. 'Excruciating pain' is a fixed, natural pairing.
3. External / quick / awkward pain are not natural collocations here.

Yaad rakhein: Other pain collocations: acute pain, chronic pain, sharp pain, dull ache.

Answer: (B) excruciating

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

1. 'gentel' is wrong; correct spelling is 'gentle' (-le ending).
2. sprawled, enjoying and breeze are already correct in the sentence.
3. Options (a), (b), (c) are misspellings themselves.

Yaad rakhein: Common -le words: gentle, candle, simple, little, subtle — the 'l' comes before 'e'.

Answer: (D) gentle

Concept: The analysis questioned how texts are read and interpreted.

1. Hermeneutic = related to interpretation of texts.
2. Such deep interpretive analysis can challenge ideas of narrative and author's intent.
3. Prosaic (dull), facile (shallow) and pedantic (fussy over details) don't fit a critique of interpretation.

Yaad rakhein: Hermeneutics originally meant interpretation of scriptures; today it covers interpreting any text.

Answer: (B) hermeneutic

Concept: Incorrigible = cannot be corrected or reformed.

1. In- (not) + corrigible (correctable).
2. Sentence (c): a liar 'beyond correction' = incorrigible.
3. Other sentences talk about paint, salty food and hot weather.

Trick: Break the word: in + corrig (correct) + ible (able) = not able to be corrected.

Answer: (C) He is a very bad liar beyond correction.

Concept: Jovial = cheerful and friendly.

1. A jovial person is good-humoured and sociable.
2. Pensive = thoughtful/sad — near opposite; cautious and angry are unrelated.

Yaad rakhein: Synonyms: genial, merry, jolly; antonyms: gloomy, morose.

Answer: (C) Friendly and in good mood

Concept: Resilient = bouncing back after difficulty.

1. Resilient people/materials recover quickly from shocks.
2. Weak & fragile and overly sensitive are opposites; easily distracted is about attention.

Yaad rakhein: Noun: resilience. Antonyms: fragile, vulnerable.

Answer: (D) Able to recover quickly

Concept: Adverb = adjective + -ly; the adjective's spelling stays the same.

1. reluctant + ly = reluctantly → 'Reluctently' is wrong.
2. irritable → irritably, fatal → fatally, stern → sternly — all correct.

Trick: Check the root adjective: '-ant' words keep '-ant' (reluctant, brilliant → reluctantly, brilliantly).

Answer: (B) Reluctently

Concept: Frequency adverbs (always, often, usually) go before the main verb but after 'be'/auxiliary.

1. (a) 'He goes always…' places 'always' after the main verb — incorrect.
2. Correct: He always goes for a run in the morning.
3. (b), (c), (d) follow the rule.

Trick: Remember 'S + adverb + V' — but 'S + is/am/are + adverb' (He is always late).

Answer: (A) He goes always for a run in the morning.

Concept: Verbs joined by 'and' should be in the same tense.

1. Second verb: 'has given' (present perfect).
2. So first must be 'has written', with a natural quantifier 'several articles'.
3. (a) past perfect, (b) future, (c) 'was write' is ungrammatical.

Trick: Look at the un-underlined verb first — it tells you the tense of the blank.

Answer: (D) has written several articles

Concept: Ameliorate = make or become better.

1. Opposite: worsen (become worse).
2. His condition began to worsen after the trip.
3. 'Improve' is a synonym — the classic trap.

Trick: In antonym questions, first strike out the synonym option — it is usually placed to mislead.

Answer: (B) Worsen

Concept: 'Be (just) about something' = to be mainly concerned with it.

1. 'Health is not just about not being sick' = health means more than absence of illness.
2. 'In', 'on' don't fit this meaning; 'but' is a conjunction, not a preposition.

Yaad rakhein: Pattern: 'It's not just about X, it's about Y' — very common in English.

Answer: (A) about

Concept: Simple future = will + V1 (base form).

1. (d) 'will meeting' is wrong → 'will meet' (or 'will be meeting').
2. (a) will like, (b) will pass, (c) will look — correct.

Trick: Modal verbs (will, shall, can, may, must) are always followed by V1, never V-ing alone.

Answer: (D) I think we will meeting again before long.

Concept: Persuasion = getting someone to agree with you.

1. 'The art of ___ someone to agree' needs a verb meaning 'make agree'.
2. Convincing fits exactly.
3. Motivating = push to act; evaluating = judging; captivating = charming.

Trick: The passage later says 'more convincing' — the same idea repeats in the blank.

Answer: (C) convincing

Concept: Ethos = appeal through the speaker's trustworthiness.

1. The speaker wants the audience to trust her as a source.
2. Credible = believable, trustworthy.
3. Confusing, misleading, unreliable are negative — they defeat persuasion.

Yaad rakhein: Aristotle's triad: Ethos = credibility, Pathos = emotion, Logos = logic.

Answer: (B) credible

Concept: After 'way of', a gerund (-ing verb) is needed.

1. Only 'connecting' is an -ing verb; the others are adjectives.
2. 'Connect with emotions' is a natural phrase for pathos.

Trick: Preposition + verb → always V-ing (way of connecting, fond of reading).

Answer: (A) connecting

Concept: Logos = appeal to logic, built on verifiable material.

1. 'Use of ___ or information' needs a word for proven data: facts.
2. Theory is unproven; clue is only a hint (and needs 'a').
3. 'Facts or information' is the natural pairing for logical appeal.

Yaad rakhein: Logos ↔ 'logic' — think of facts, data, statistics.

Answer: (D) facts

Concept: Facts and information are used to strengthen a case.

1. What a speaker makes 'more convincing' is his/her argument.
2. A question is asked, not made convincing.
3. Theory and hypothesis are tested, not used to persuade an audience.

Yaad rakhein: Collocation: 'make an argument / a convincing argument / a strong argument'.

Answer: (C) argument