Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Pick the word that fits the sense of a compulsory requirement.

1. Forms ask for address and phone as a must, not as a choice.
2. Mandatory = compulsory, required by rule → 'it is mandatory to provide…'
3. 'Unnecessary' gives the opposite idea; 'customary' = usual by habit; 'choice' is a noun and does not fit after 'it is'.

Trick: After 'it is ___ to do something', you need an adjective; 'choice' (noun) is out at once.

Answer: (A) mandatory

Concept: Idiom meaning from context.

1. At sixes and sevens = confused, in disorder, unable to decide.
2. The speaker could not choose a university until the scholarship came – a clear case of confusion.
3. 'Nervous' is close but the idiom stresses muddle, not fear.

Trick: Six and seven – two numbers, mind stuck between them = confusion.

Answer: (C) in a state of confusion

Concept: A singular subject takes a singular verb.

1. Subject 'the condition' is singular.
2. With it, 'are improving' is wrong; correct: if the condition is improving (or 'the conditions are').
3. Other parts are fine.

Trick: Check the noun just before is/are/was/were – singular noun + plural verb is the commonest SSC error.

Answer: (B) if the condition are improving,

Concept: Use active voice when the subject performs the action.

1. Subject: 'adopting relaxation techniques, exercise or other similar practices'.
2. These practices do the helping, so the verb must be active: can help.
3. 'Can be helped' wrongly makes them receivers of help.

Trick: Ask: does the subject do the action or receive it? Doer → active.

Answer: (B) can be helped

Concept: Fixed phrase for giving a reason.

1. The phrase is on (the) grounds of = because of.
2. So the blank takes on: cancelled on grounds of …
3. at/in/over are not used with 'grounds' in this sense.

Trick: Reason for a decision → 'on grounds of', 'on account of', 'on the basis of' – all take 'on'.

Answer: (B) on

Concept: Find the item that is not a standard English word.

1. Wright (maker), Right (correct), Rite (ritual) – all real words, all sound the same (homophones).
2. Nite is only a slang spelling of 'night'; it is not a standard dictionary word.
3. So Nite is the odd one.

Trick: Three options sound alike and are real words – the fourth, a slang spelling, is out.

Answer: (C) Nite

Concept: Spot the misspelt word.

1. Correct spelling: Facsimile (an exact copy; 'fax' comes from it).
2. Option writes 'Facsimily' – wrong ending.
3. Simile, Family, Mile are correct.

Trick: Facsimile = fac + simile – it ends exactly like 'simile' in option A.

Answer: (C) Facsimily

Concept: 'Between' for two, 'among' for more than two.

1. 'The two friends' – only two people share.
2. So use between themselves.
3. 'Around/to themselves' give no sense of sharing.

Trick: Two → between; three or more → among.

Answer: (B) between themselves

Concept: Fixed expression 'be cut out for' = naturally suited to.

1. He has good communication skills, so he is suited to teaching.
2. Correct: he was cut out for a career in teaching.
3. 'Cut down on' = reduce; 'cut out to/on' are not idiomatic.

Trick: Cut out FOR a job / cut out TO BE a teacher – remember both forms.

Answer: (C) cut out for

Concept: Simple past passive = was/were + V3; phrasal verb particle stays.

1. Object 'the lamp of the garden' becomes subject.
2. 'blew down' → was blown down (keep 'down').
3. Agent: by the violent storm.

Trick: Never drop the particle of a phrasal verb – that removes option A instantly; 'had' options change the tense.

Answer: (B) The lamp of the garden was blown down within minutes by the violent storm.

Concept: had been + V3 (passive) → had + V3 (active); 'never…by anyone' → 'No one'.

1. Agent 'anyone' + 'never' → subject No one.
2. 'had been revealed' → had revealed.
3. Object 'the secret' and the time clause stay unchanged.

Trick: 'No one never' is a double negative – A is out; tense must stay past perfect – C, D out.

Answer: (B) No one had revealed the secret before the journalist arrived.

Concept: Past reporting verb → tense shifts back; come→go, me→him, next→following.

1. has to → had to; described → had described.
2. come … to me → go … to him (place/person shift).
3. the next few hours → the following few hours.

Trick: Check the three change-points (tense, come/go, next/following); only D has all three.

Answer: (D) Rohit said that he had to go to Mumbai to him within the following few hours to seek help to resolve the issue he had described.

Concept: 'Exclaimed with regret' → interjection of sorrow; had + V3 → have + V3.

1. Regret is shown by an interjection like 'Oh no!'.
2. she/her → I/my; had misplaced → have misplaced.
3. A keeps 'had' and uses 'Hey' (not regret); C has 'misplace' (wrong form); D adds no exclamation.

Trick: Match the emotion word first: regret → Oh no!/Alas!; joy → Hurrah!

Answer: (B) She said, "Oh no! I have misplaced my phone at the office."

Concept: Verbs of separation take 'from'; blame is put on/onto someone.

1. distance oneself from something.
2. put the blame onto (on) someone.
3. Both blanks together: from, onto.

Trick: Fill the easier blank first: 'distance ___' can only be 'from' – only option B starts with it.

Answer: (B) from, onto

Concept: When converting to direct speech, a second past perfect becomes simple past.

1. Reporting part 'told the guard' can stay as it is.
2. 'had been studying' remains; 'had entered' → entered.
3. Pronoun he → I inside the quotation marks.

Trick: Options with 'said to' keep 'had entered' – two past perfects in one quote is wrong, so pick C.

Answer: (C) He told the guard, "I had been studying when the burglars entered.'

Concept: should not have been + V3 → should not have + V3.

1. Agent 'the health authorities' becomes subject.
2. 'should not have been dismissed' → should not have dismissed.
3. Object: the innovative medical procedure; rest unchanged.

Trick: Just delete 'been' and swap subject/agent – the modal and 'have' stay.

Answer: (B) The health authorities should not have dismissed the innovative medical procedure as mere experimentation.

Concept: Spot the misspelt word.

1. Correct: Occasion – double 'c', single 's'.
2. Option 'Occassion' has double 's' – wrong.
3. Commend, Deadline, Intimidate are correct.

Trick: OCCASION: 2 C's, 1 S – 'occasional C-C, single S'.

Answer: (B) Occassion

Concept: Past perfect passive = had (not) been + V3.

1. Object 'the assignment' → subject; 'we' → by us.
2. 'had not completed' → had not been completed.
3. Rest of the sentence (before the due date) stays the same.

Trick: Tense never changes in voice change – keep 'had', so only C fits.

Answer: (C) The assignment had not been completed by us before the due date.

Concept: was/were + V3 = simple past (passive form).

1. 'was' is the past of 'be'; 'regarded' is V3.
2. Together they form the simple past passive.
3. 'once' also signals finished past time.

Trick: was/were + V3 → past simple passive; had + V3 → past perfect.

Answer: (B) Past simple

Concept: The verb agrees with its own subject, which here is plural.

1. Who prioritises? Companies – plural subject.
2. Plural subject takes the base verb without -s: 'prioritise'.
3. 'graduates' is the object, not the subject.

Trick: Ask 'who does the action?' – that noun decides the verb form, not the nearest noun.

Answer: (B) Because "Companies" is the plural subject