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Question 651

SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025• English Comprehension• English Comprehension

Select the most appropriate synonym of the given word: PERSPICUOUS

  1. AOption (a)

    Confused

  2. BOption (b)

    Clear

  3. COption (c)

    Precarious

  4. DOption (d)

    Muddled

View answer & explanation

Correct answer

Answer: (b)B.

Clear

Why this answer is correct

The correct answer is: Option 2 (Clear).

Key Points

  • The word "perspicuous" refers to something that is clearly expressed or easily understood; lucid. (स्पष्ट रूप से समझने योग्य)
  • Example: The teacher's explanation was so perspicuous that no student had any questions.
  • "Clear" means easy to understand, not ambiguous or confusing. (साफ़, स्पष्ट)
  • Example: The instructions on the package were clear, making assembly a breeze.
  • Hence, the most appropriate synonym of "perspicuous" is "clear".

Therefore, the correct answer is: Option 2 (Clear).

Additional Information

Here are the other options explained along with their Hindi meanings and example sentences:

  • Confused (उलझन में): Unable to think clearly or understand something.
  • Example: She looked confused when I asked her about the new policy.
  • Precarious (अनिश्चित): Not securely held or in position; dangerously likely to fall or collapse.
  • Example: The ladder was placed in a precarious position, making it risky to climb.
  • Muddled (घबराया हुआ): In a state of confusion or disorder.
  • Example: His thoughts were so muddled that he couldn’t explain his point properly.

Question 652

SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025• English Comprehension• English Comprehension

Select the most appropriate antonym of the given word. Exiguous

  1. AOption (a)

    Meager

  2. BOption (b)

    Plentiful

  3. COption (c)

    Sparse

  4. DOption (d)

    Skimpy

View answer & explanation

Correct answer

Answer: (b)B.

Plentiful

Why this answer is correct

The correct answer is: Option 2 i.e. Plentiful.

Key Points

  • The word "Exiguous" means very small in size or amount; scanty or meager. (अत्यल्प, नगण्य)
  • Example: The resources available for the project were exiguous, making it challenging to complete.
  • "Plentiful" refers to something that exists in great quantity; abundant. (प्रचुर मात्रा में)
  • Example: This region is known for its plentiful harvest of fruits every year.
  • Since "Exiguous" means "scarce" and "Plentiful" means "abundant," they are direct antonyms.

Therefore, the correct answer is: Option 2 i.e. Plentiful.

Additional Information

Here are the other options explained along with their Hindi meanings and example sentences:

  • Meager (अल्प): Refers to something that is lacking in quantity or quality; insufficient.
  • Example: The family survived on a meager income, struggling to meet their basic needs.
  • Sparse (विरल): Refers to something that is thinly scattered or distributed.
  • Example: The vegetation in the desert is sparse due to the lack of water.
  • Skimpy (अपर्याप्त): Refers to something that is inadequate in size or amount, often barely sufficient.
  • Example: She wore a skimpy dress, which barely covered her shoulders.

Question 653

SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025• English Comprehension• English Comprehension

Choose the correct meaning of idiom: Yeoman service

  1. AOption (a)

    A trivial task done quickly

  2. BOption (b)

    A dishonest act in uniform

  3. COption (c)

    A brave but foolish deed

  4. DOption (d)

    An exceptionally loyal and useful service

View answer & explanation

Correct answer

Answer: (d)D.

An exceptionally loyal and useful service

Why this answer is correct

The correct answer is: Option 4 i.e. "An exceptionally loyal and useful service".

Key Points

  • The idiom "Yeoman service" refers to diligent, reliable, and helpful service that is performed loyally and effectively. (बहुत वफादार और उपयोगी सेवा)
  • Example: During the flood relief operations, the volunteers provided yeoman service to the affected people.
  • "Exceptionally loyal and useful service" captures the essence of the idiom. It is used to describe someone who has gone above and beyond to assist or contribute meaningfully. (अत्यधिक वफादार और उपयोगी सेवा)
  • Example: The nurse's yeoman service at the hospital was appreciated by everyone.

Therefore, the correct answer is: Option 4.

Additional Information

Here are the other options explained along with their Hindi meanings and example sentences:

  • Option 1: A trivial task done quickly (एक मामूली कार्य जो जल्दी किया गया हो): Refers to something insignificant or simple that is completed in no time.
  • Example: Folding laundry is often considered a trivial task done quickly.
  • Option 2: A dishonest act in uniform (वर्दी में किया गया बेईमानी का कार्य): Refers to an unethical or deceitful act carried out by someone in a position of authority or responsibility.
  • Example: A soldier committing theft while on duty is an example of a dishonest act in uniform.
  • Option 3: A brave but foolish deed (एक साहसी लेकिन मूर्खतापूर्ण कार्य): Refers to an act of courage that lacks wisdom or results in unintended consequences.
  • Example: Trying to rescue a wild animal bare-handed was a brave but foolish deed.

Question 654

SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025• English Comprehension• English Comprehension

Choose the correct meaning of idiom: Coals of fire upon his head

  1. AOption (a)

    To punish someone for hypocrisy

  2. BOption (b)

    To provoke guilt through accusation

  3. COption (c)

    To offer false forgiveness

  4. DOption (d)

    To shame an enemy through kindness

View answer & explanation

Correct answer

Answer: (d)D.

To shame an enemy through kindness

Why this answer is correct

The correct answer is: Option 4.

Key Points

  • The idiom "Coals of fire upon his head" means to shame an enemy or adversary through acts of kindness. (दुश्मन को दयालुता के माध्यम से शर्मिंदा करना)
  • Example: Instead of retaliating when someone insults you, showing generosity or kindness can place coals of fire upon their head.
  • Kindness has a powerful impact, often making others feel guilt or regret for their actions. This is the essence of this idiom.

Therefore, the correct answer is: Option 4.

Additional Information

Here are the other options explained along with their Hindi meanings and example sentences:

  • Option 1: To punish someone for hypocrisy (किसी को पाखंड के लिए सजा देना): This option suggests retaliation for someone's dishonesty or hypocrisy, but it is not the correct meaning of the idiom.
  • Example: He exposed the hypocrisy of the politician, but he did not punish him.
  • Option 2: To provoke guilt through accusation (आरोप के माध्यम से अपराधबोध को उकसाना): This option implies making someone feel guilty by accusing them, but this is not the intent behind the idiom.
  • Example: She provoked guilt by blaming him for the mistake.
  • Option 3: To offer false forgiveness (झूठी माफी देना): This option refers to pretending to forgive someone without truly meaning it, which is unrelated to the idiom.
  • Example: He offered false forgiveness, hiding his anger beneath the surface.

Question 655

SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025• English Comprehension• English Comprehension

Select the correct spelling for a word meaning 'an official pardon'.

  1. AOption (a)

    Amnisty

  2. BOption (b)

    Ammmnesty

  3. COption (c)

    Amnesty

  4. DOption (d)

    Amnistee

View answer & explanation

Correct answer

Answer: (c)C.

Amnesty

Why this answer is correct

The correct answer is option 3.

Key Points

The word 'Amnesty' means an official pardon.

  • The correct spelling is 'Amnesty'.
  • The word 'Amnesty' is a noun which refers to 'an official pardon for people who have been convicted of political offenses'. (क्षमा)
  • For Example -
  • The government announced an amnesty for all political prisoners.

Therefore, the correct answer is 'Amnesty'.

Additional Information

Explanation of the other options:

  • Option 1 - Amnisty: Incorrect spelling.
  • Option 2 - Ammmnesty: Incorrect spelling with unnecessary repetition of the letter 'm'.
  • Option 4 - Amnistee: Incorrect spelling with 'ee' instead of 'y'.

Question 656

SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025• English Comprehension• English Comprehension

Select the correct spelling for a word meaning 'lasting a short time'.

  1. AOption (a)

    Ephemerel

  2. BOption (b)

    Ephemaral

  3. COption (c)

    Ephemeral

  4. DOption (d)

    Ephemoral

View answer & explanation

Correct answer

Answer: (c)C.

Ephemeral

Why this answer is correct

The correct answer is option 3.

Key Points

The word 'Ephemeral' means 'lasting a short time'.

  • Ephemeral is an adjective used to describe something that is short-lived or temporary.
  • For example: "The beauty of cherry blossoms is ephemeral, as they bloom for only a few weeks."

Therefore, the correct answer is 'Ephemeral'.

Additional Information

Explanation of the incorrect options:

  • Ephemerel - Incorrect spelling.
  • Ephemaral - Incorrect spelling.
  • Ephemoral - Incorrect spelling.

Question 657

SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025• English Comprehension• English Comprehension

Choose the correct one-word substitute for: 'Something that is no longer in use'.

  1. AOption (a)

    Obsolete

  2. BOption (b)

    Absolute

  3. COption (c)

    Medieval

  4. DOption (d)

    Antique

View answer & explanation

Correct answer

Answer: (a)A.

Obsolete

Why this answer is correct

The correct answer is: Obsolete.

Key Points

  • The word "Obsolete" refers to something that is no longer in use, or has become outdated due to advancements or changes over time. (अप्रचलित)
  • Example: The typewriter has become an obsolete device in the age of computers and laptops.
  • "Outdated" is a synonym of "Obsolete" and conveys the same meaning of something that has fallen out of use or favor. (अप्रचलित)
  • Example: Many traditional farming techniques are now considered obsolete due to modern machinery.

Therefore, the correct answer is: Obsolete.

Additional Information

Here are the other options explained along with their Hindi meanings and example sentences:

  • Absolute (पूर्ण): Refers to something that is complete, total, or not dependent on anything else.
  • Example: The king held absolute power over the kingdom.
  • Medieval (मध्यकालीन): Relates to the Middle Ages, a period in European history from the 5th to the late 15th century.
  • Example: The castle was built in the medieval period and has been well-preserved.
  • Antique (प्राचीन): Refers to something old and often valuable due to its age or rarity.
  • Example: She owns an antique vase that has been passed down through generations.

Question 658

SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025• English Comprehension• English Comprehension

Choose the correct one-word substitution for: 'A person with great skill in music or arts'.

  1. AOption (a)

    Performer

  2. BOption (b)

    Virtuoso

  3. COption (c)

    Composer

  4. DOption (d)

    Prodigy

View answer & explanation

Correct answer

Answer: (b)B.

Virtuoso

Why this answer is correct

The correct answer is: Virtuoso.

Key Points

  • The word "Virtuoso" refers to a person who is highly skilled in music or arts. (संगीत या कला में अत्यधिक कुशल व्यक्ति)
  • Example: She is a virtuoso pianist who captivates audiences with her performances.
  • "Virtuoso" is often used to describe someone who has mastered a particular art form or skill to an extraordinary degree. (किसी कला या कौशल में असाधारण दक्षता प्राप्त व्यक्ति)
  • Example: The gallery showcased paintings by a virtuoso artist whose work is known worldwide.

Therefore, the correct answer is: Virtuoso.

Additional Information

Here are the other options explained along with their Hindi meanings and example sentences:

  • Performer (प्रदर्शन करने वाला व्यक्ति): A person who entertains an audience by acting, singing, dancing, or playing music.
  • Example: The performer received a standing ovation for his flawless dance routine.
  • Composer (संगीतकार): A person who writes music, especially as a professional occupation.
  • Example: Beethoven is one of the most famous composers in history.
  • Prodigy (प्रतिभाशाली व्यक्ति): A young person with exceptional qualities or abilities, often in a specific field like music, mathematics, or arts.
  • Example: The child prodigy began playing the violin at the age of three.

Question 659

SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025• English Comprehension• English Comprehension

In the given passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage intently and choose the most appropriate option to fill in each blank:

Urban decay is not merely a symptom of infrastructural attrition, but a semantic artifact—where stone and steel become archives of deferred modernities. Cracks, corrosion, and spectral scaffolds do not degrade meaning; they transmute it, encoding absence as presence and entropy as (1) _____. These architectural residues defy the chronological hygiene of masterplans, offering instead a fugitive temporality—unruly, sedimented, and unresolved. The ruin, in this schema, is not a failure of design, but an overdetermined syntax of collapse. Its grammar speaks through spalling concrete and oxidized signage, refusing the gloss of civic optimism. To aestheticize such decay without critique is to partake in ontological (2) _____-rendering disorder decorative and suffering sublime. What masquerades as renewal often constitutes spatial evisceration, where memory is evacuated in favor of speculative capital and "heritage" becomes a euphemism for curatorial sanitization. To read ruins poetically is to displace utility with (3) _____: to allow detritus to articulate that which infrastructure occludes. These spaces demand not beautification, but semiotic excavation—where rusted balustrades and defunct corridors become sites of interpretive insurgency. Yet decay resists even romanticization. It is not allegory, but ontic excess—a surplus that confounds enclosure. Gentrification cannot domesticate it; nostalgia cannot vitrify it. It lingers, mutinous and mnemonic, as a (4) _____ syntax etched across municipal forgetting. The city's ruins are not relics. They are discursive glitches—interruptions in the urban script that demand to be read not as loss, but as infrastructural (5) _____.

What should come in the place of blank number (1)?

  1. AOption (a)

    memorial

  2. BOption (b)

    legibility

  3. COption (c)

    decadence

  4. DOption (d)

    monumentality

View answer & explanation

Correct answer

Answer: (b)B.

legibility

Why this answer is correct

The correct answer is 'legibility'.

 

Key Points

  • The passage explores the concept of urban decay not just as physical destruction, but as a "semantic artifact" (something that carries meaning).
  • The sentence in question uses a parallel structure of contrasting pairs: "encoding absence as presence" and "entropy as ______".
  • Entropy refers to a lack of order, randomness, or gradual decline into chaos. To maintain the contrast (like absence vs. presence), the missing word must represent clarity, order, or the ability to be understood.
  • "Legibility" fits perfectly because the passage discusses "reading" ruins, "syntax," "grammar," and "meaning." It suggests that the decay makes the chaos (entropy) readable or understandable in a new way.

Therefore, the correct answer is 'Option 2'.

 

Complete Passage: Urban decay is not merely a symptom of infrastructural attrition, but a semantic artifact—where stone and steel become archives of deferred modernities. Cracks, corrosion, and spectral scaffolds do not degrade meaning; they transmute it, encoding absence as presence and entropy as 1. legibility. These architectural residues defy the chronological hygiene of masterplans, offering instead a fugitive temporality...

 

Additional Information

  • Memorial (स्मारक): A structure or object established to remind people of a person or event. While ruins can be memorials, it does not fit the specific contrast with "entropy" in a linguistic context.
  • Decadence (पतन): Moral or cultural decline, often characterized by excessive indulgence. This is synonymous with decay/entropy rather than a contrast to it.
  • Monumentality (विशालता): The quality of being massive or impressive in scale. This refers to physical size rather than the "meaning" or "readability" the sentence focuses on.

Question 660

SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025• English Comprehension• English Comprehension

In the given passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage intently and choose the most appropriate option to fill in each blank:

Urban decay is not merely a symptom of infrastructural attrition, but a semantic artifact—where stone and steel become archives of deferred modernities. Cracks, corrosion, and spectral scaffolds do not degrade meaning; they transmute it, encoding absence as presence and entropy as (1) _____. These architectural residues defy the chronological hygiene of masterplans, offering instead a fugitive temporality—unruly, sedimented, and unresolved. The ruin, in this schema, is not a failure of design, but an overdetermined syntax of collapse. Its grammar speaks through spalling concrete and oxidized signage, refusing the gloss of civic optimism. To aestheticize such decay without critique is to partake in ontological (2) _____-rendering disorder decorative and suffering sublime. What masquerades as renewal often constitutes spatial evisceration, where memory is evacuated in favor of speculative capital and "heritage" becomes a euphemism for curatorial sanitization. To read ruins poetically is to displace utility with (3) _____: to allow detritus to articulate that which infrastructure occludes. These spaces demand not beautification, but semiotic excavation—where rusted balustrades and defunct corridors become sites of interpretive insurgency. Yet decay resists even romanticization. It is not allegory, but ontic excess—a surplus that confounds enclosure. Gentrification cannot domesticate it; nostalgia cannot vitrify it. It lingers, mutinous and mnemonic, as a (4) _____ syntax etched across municipal forgetting. The city's ruins are not relics. They are discursive glitches—interruptions in the urban script that demand to be read not as loss, but as infrastructural (5) _____.

What should come in the place of blank number (2)?

  1. AOption (a)

    excess

  2. BOption (b)

    laundering

  3. COption (c)

    disintegration

  4. DOption (d)

    reiteration

View answer & explanation

Correct answer

Answer: (b)B.

laundering

Why this answer is correct

The correct answer is 'laundering'.

 

Key Points

  • The passage critiques the act of aestheticizing decay without critique, turning disorder into something decorative.
  • The word must convey the idea of disguising or sanitizing disorder, making it appear acceptable or even beautiful.
  • "Laundering" fits perfectly, as it metaphorically suggests the act of cleaning up or disguising disorder to render it decorative.
  • Other options ("excess", "disintegration", "reiteration") do not capture the sense of disguising or transforming disorder into aestheticized form.

Therefore, the correct answer is 'Option 2'.

 

Complete Passage: To aestheticize such decay without critique is to partake in ontological 2. laundering —rendering disorder decorative and suffering sublime.

 

Additional Information

  • Excess: refers to surplus but does not imply disguising disorder.
  • Disintegration: means breaking apart, which is descriptive but not about aestheticizing.
  • Reiteration: means repetition, irrelevant to the idea of disguising decay.