SSC CGL Mock – Tier II Paper I Mock Test 01 – Section II · Part A · English Language & Comprehension
SSC CGL Mock – Tier II Paper I Mock Test 01 – Section II · Part A · English Language & Comprehension – 45 questions, subject: Full Mock Tests. Every question has the correct answer with a one-line explanation; tap "Show Answer". Free practice for TNPSC, UPSC, SSC, Bank and RRB exams – Shanmugam IAS Academy, Coimbatore.
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Directions (Q 61–65): Each sentence below is divided into three segments. Select the segment that contains a grammatical error. If there is no error, select 'No error'.
Correct Answer: C [submit there assignments by Friday.]
Explanation:
'there' (a place) is confused with the possessive 'their' → 'submit their assignments'.
Spot the errorShe has / a lot of knowledges / about ancient history.
Correct Answer: B [a lot of knowledges]
Explanation:
'knowledge' is uncountable → 'a lot of knowledge'.
Spot the errorThe patient / had died / before the doctor came.
Correct Answer: D [No error]
Explanation:
The earlier of two past actions correctly takes the past perfect ('had died').
Spot the errorShe is / the most intelligent / of all the other students.
Correct Answer: C [of all the other students.]
Explanation:
With a superlative, 'other' is wrong → 'of all the students'.
Spot the errorThe goods / was delivered / to the wrong address.
Correct Answer: B [was delivered]
Explanation:
'goods' is a plural noun → 'were delivered'.
Directions (Q 66–69): Select the most appropriate option to improve the underlined part of the sentence. If no improvement is needed, select 'No improvement'.
Correct Answer: B [had burnt down]
Explanation:
An action completed before another past action ('arrived') → past perfect 'had burnt down'.
Sentence improvementShe is resembling her grandmother.
Correct Answer: A [resembles]
Explanation:
'resemble' is a state verb (no continuous form) and takes no preposition → 'resembles'.
Sentence improvementWe will discuss the plan when the manager will arrive.
Correct Answer: C [arrives]
Explanation:
A time clause about the future takes the simple present → 'when the manager arrives'.
Sentence improvementPlease let me to go home early today.
Correct Answer: A [let me go]
Explanation:
'let' + object takes the bare infinitive → 'let me go'.
Directions (Q 70–73): Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank.
Correct Answer: C [fluent]
Explanation:
'fluent in a language' = able to speak it easily and well.
PrepositionThe festival will be held _______ the first week of December.
Correct Answer: D [in]
Explanation:
A week, month or year takes 'in'.
PrepositionShe apologised _______ her rude remark.
Correct Answer: C [for]
Explanation:
One apologises to a person for something → 'apologised for her rude remark'.
PrepositionThe bridge was closed _______ repairs.
Correct Answer: D [for]
Explanation:
Purpose → 'closed for repairs'.
Directions (Q 74): Select the option that expresses the given sentence in passive voice.
Correct Answer: A [The leave application has been approved by the manager.]
Explanation:
Present perfect → has been + V3.
Directions (Q 75): Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect speech.
Correct Answer: B [The guide warned the tourists not to go near the edge of the cliff.]
Explanation:
A negative command → warned + object + not + to-infinitive.
Directions (Q 76): The sentences of a paragraph are given below in jumbled order. Select the option that arranges them in a logical sequence.
Q. The old bookshop on the corner had been losing customers for years.
R. Its owner, a retired teacher, refused to give up.
S. Within a year, the shop was busier than it had ever been.
T. Students began to drop in after college, and many stayed to buy a book or two.
Correct Answer: B [QRPTS]
Explanation:
Problem → 'Its owner' → 'Instead' (his plan) → result → 'Within a year'.
Directions (Q 77–78): Select the most appropriate SYNONYM of the given word.
Correct Answer: C [noticeable]
Explanation:
conspicuous = easily seen, noticeable.
SynonymFRAGILE
Correct Answer: D [delicate]
Explanation:
fragile = easily broken, delicate.
Directions (Q 79–80): Select the most appropriate ANTONYM of the given word.
Correct Answer: A [descend]
Explanation:
ascend = go up; opposite = descend.
AntonymBRAVE
Correct Answer: B [cowardly]
Explanation:
brave = showing courage; opposite = cowardly.
Directions (Q 81–82): Select the most appropriate meaning of the given idiom or phrase.
Correct Answer: D [to speak plainly and honestly]
Explanation:
'call a spade a spade' = speak frankly, without softening the truth.
Idiomto blow one's own trumpet
Correct Answer: A [to boast about oneself]
Explanation:
'blow one's own trumpet' = praise one's own achievements.
Directions (Q 83–84): Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words.
Correct Answer: C [volunteer]
Explanation:
volunteer = one who works willingly without pay; a mercenary works only for money.
One-word substitutionA group of ships sailing together
Correct Answer: D [fleet]
Explanation:
fleet = a group of ships; flock = birds or sheep; herd = cattle; swarm = insects.
Directions (Q 85): Select the correctly spelt word to fill in the blank.
Correct Answer: C [camouflage]
Explanation:
ca-mou-flage: 'mou' in the middle and '-flage' at the end.
Directions (Q 86–90): In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each numbered blank.
Dr Meenakshi could have (1) _______ a comfortable job in a city hospital. Instead, she chose to work in a remote village (2) _______ the nearest clinic was a day's walk away. In her first year, many villagers were (3) _______ of her and preferred the local healer. She did not argue with them. She simply treated every patient with patience and (4) _______, and slowly word spread. Today, the same villagers who once avoided her (5) _______ her advice before anyone else's.
Correct Answer: B [taken]
Explanation:
'could have' + past participle → 'could have taken'.
ClozeBlank (2): Instead, she chose to work in a remote village (2) _______ the nearest clinic was a day's walk away.
Correct Answer: A [where]
Explanation:
A relative adverb for a place (a village) → 'where'.
ClozeBlank (3): In her first year, many villagers were (3) _______ of her and preferred the local healer.
Correct Answer: C [suspicious]
Explanation:
After 'were' an adjective is needed: 'suspicious of'.
ClozeBlank (4): She simply treated every patient with patience and (4) _______, and slowly word spread.
Correct Answer: A [respect]
Explanation:
Parallel nouns after 'with': patience and respect.
ClozeBlank (5): Today, the same villagers who once avoided her (5) _______ her advice before anyone else's.
Correct Answer: B [seek]
Explanation:
'Today' + plural subject (the villagers) → present simple 'seek'.
Directions (Q 91–95): Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
When Arjun was sent to work for old Mr D'Souza, the clockmaker, he expected to learn quickly and leave early. The workshop was tiny and crowded with clocks of every shape, all ticking at slightly different speeds. On the first day, Mr D'Souza handed him a broken pocket watch and a magnifying glass and said only, 'Find out why it stopped.'
Arjun spent the whole morning staring at the tiny wheels and springs. By noon he was certain that the watch was beyond repair, and he said so. The old man did not reply. He picked up a pair of tweezers, removed a speck of dust no thicker than a hair from between two wheels, and the watch began to tick.
That evening Arjun walked home feeling foolish. But the lesson stayed with him. In the months that followed, he learned that most problems were not as complicated as they first appeared; they needed patience more than cleverness. Years later, when he opened his own small repair shop, he hung a sign above the counter that said: 'Look again.'
Correct Answer: D [to learn quickly and leave early]
Explanation:
The passage says: 'he expected to learn quickly and leave early'.
RC – detailWhat was Arjun's first task in the workshop?
Correct Answer: A [to find out why a pocket watch had stopped]
Explanation:
The passage says: 'handed him a broken pocket watch'.
RC – detailWhy had the pocket watch stopped?
Correct Answer: B [A tiny speck of dust was caught between two of its wheels.]
Explanation:
The passage says: 'removed a speck of dust no thicker than a hair from between two wheels'.
RC – inferenceWhy did Arjun feel foolish that evening?
Correct Answer: D [He had declared the watch beyond repair, though the fault was very simple.]
Explanation:
He had called the watch 'beyond repair', yet removing one speck of dust fixed it.
RC – main ideaThe sign 'Look again' in Arjun's shop sums up his belief that problems often need
Correct Answer: C [patience more than cleverness]
Explanation:
The passage says: 'they needed patience more than cleverness'.
Directions (Q 96–100): Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
For generations, millets such as ragi, jowar and bajra were everyday food in many parts of India. Over time, as rice and wheat became cheaper and more widely available, these hardy grains slipped out of many kitchens and came to be seen as food for the poor.
That image is now changing. Nutrition experts point out that millets are rich in fibre and minerals, and many urban families have begun adding them to their diets. Farmers, too, have reasons to take a fresh look. Most millets need far less water than rice and can grow on poor soil, which makes them attractive in regions where rainfall is uncertain.
Yet a revival is not simply a matter of enthusiasm. Millets take longer to clean and cook, and many young people have never learned recipes that their grandparents took for granted. Mills that process the grains can be hard to find, and prices can swing sharply. If millets are to return to everyday meals, both the kitchen and the market will have to adapt.
Correct Answer: D [Rice and wheat became cheaper and more widely available.]
Explanation:
The passage says: 'as rice and wheat became cheaper and more widely available'.
RC – NOT mentionedWhich of the following is NOT mentioned as a reason for farmers to grow millets?
Correct Answer: A [Millets fetch higher prices than rice.]
Explanation:
Water, poor soil and uncertain rainfall are mentioned; higher prices are not (prices 'can swing sharply').
RC – vocabularyAs used in the passage, 'these hardy grains' are grains that are
Correct Answer: C [able to grow in difficult conditions]
Explanation:
'Hardy' plants survive hard conditions – they grow on poor soil with little water.
RC – detailWhich obstacle to a revival of millets does the passage mention?
Correct Answer: B [Millets take longer to clean and cook.]
Explanation:
The passage says: 'Millets take longer to clean and cook'.
RC – main ideaWhat is the main point of the last paragraph?
Correct Answer: D [A revival needs changes in both kitchens and markets, not just enthusiasm.]
Explanation:
The passage says: 'a revival is not simply a matter of enthusiasm'.
Directions (Q 101–105): Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Noise is so much a part of city life that most of us have stopped noticing it. Traffic, construction, loudspeakers and the constant hum of machines form a background that rarely falls silent, even at night. Yet the fact that we no longer notice noise does not mean that it has no effect on us.
Doctors have long warned that constant exposure to loud sounds can disturb sleep and raise stress levels. Children who study near busy roads may find it harder to concentrate. Even wildlife is affected: some city birds, it has been observed, sing at a higher pitch to make themselves heard above the traffic.
Some cities have begun to respond. They have set quieter hours for construction, restricted the use of horns near hospitals and schools, and planted belts of trees along busy roads to absorb some of the sound. Such measures cost relatively little, but they depend on citizens changing their habits. In the end, a quieter city is not something that can simply be built; it has to be practised by everyone who lives in it.
Correct Answer: B [It has become a constant background to their lives.]
Explanation:
The passage says: 'form a background that rarely falls silent'.
RC – detailHow have some city birds adapted to traffic noise?
Correct Answer: A [They sing at a higher pitch.]
Explanation:
The passage says: 'sing at a higher pitch to make themselves heard above the traffic'.
RC – NOT mentionedWhich step taken by some cities to reduce noise is NOT mentioned?
Correct Answer: C [banning all vehicles at night]
Explanation:
Construction hours, horn limits and tree belts are mentioned; a night ban on vehicles is not.
RC – vocabularyIn the passage, trees are planted along busy roads to 'absorb' some of the sound. 'Absorb' here means
Correct Answer: B [take in]
Explanation:
Trees reduce noise by taking in part of the sound – 'absorb' = take in.
RC – inferenceWhat does the author mean by saying that a quieter city 'has to be practised'?
