Enforcement Officer / Accounts Officer (EO/AO) 2020 recruitment test, advertisement 421. Transcribed from the Commission's own booklet (series A, NMJX-U-GTA); answer as per the official UPSC final answer key. This question is in Part A. Answer last reviewed 24 August 2026.

It is difficult for us to imagine how much this safety means to everyone.

(a)feel
(b)understand
(c)think
(d)see

Answer

Why

Correct — C, (c) think.

The underlined word is ‘imagine’ and the Directions over Q11 ask for the word nearest in meaning to it. ‘Imagine’ means to form an idea or a picture of something in the mind, and ‘think’ carries that same core sense: to form or hold something in the mind. The standard synonym group in English dictionaries places them together for exactly this reason — think, conceive, imagine, fancy, envisage all mean to form an idea of something — and the two verbs share the same grammar as well as the same sense, taking a that-clause or a wh-clause after them.

The construction in the printed sentence is where the pairing shows most clearly. ‘It is difficult for us to imagine HOW MUCH this safety means’ is the wh-clause pattern, and in that pattern English uses the two verbs interchangeably: I can’t think how she manages, I can’t imagine how she manages; who would have thought it, who would have imagined it. Put ‘think’ into the sentence and it says what the sentence said before — that the magnitude of the thing is beyond our forming any idea of it.

That is the whole method of a synonym item. The answer is the option that can replace the underlined word in the printed sentence and leave the claim intact. It is not the option that improves the sentence, and it is not the option a writer might have preferred; those are different questions from the one the Directions ask.

The words ‘this safety’ carry a small weight of their own. The sentence is not about understanding a fact but about grasping the size of something felt, which is the kind of mental act ‘imagine’ names.

Why the others are wrong

(a)feel — ‘Feel’ is to perceive by sensation or by emotion — to feel cold, to feel afraid, to feel that something is wrong. Its third sense, the one closest to the underlined word, is to have an impression or opinion without full reasoning: I feel he is right. Even that sense is about a leaning rather than about forming a picture, and it sits on the side of emotion where ‘imagine’ sits on the side of the mind. The sentence is about the difficulty of conceiving a magnitude, not about the difficulty of being moved by it, and substituting ‘feel’ would shift the difficulty from the head to the heart.
(b)understand — ‘Understand’ is the nearest miss in the set, and it is worth being precise about the difference rather than dismissing it. To understand is to grasp the meaning, the working or the reason of something — to comprehend it. To imagine is to form a conception of something that is not in front of you, whether or not you can explain it. The two mental acts are distinct: a person may understand perfectly well why safety matters to a community and still be unable to imagine how much it matters to them. Substituted into the sentence, ‘understand’ would shift the claim from being unable to picture the size of the thing to being unable to comprehend it, which is a different statement. It reads smoothly, which is precisely why it is the option placed here.
(d)see — ‘See’ means to perceive with the eyes, and in a very common figurative use it means to understand — I see what you mean, do you see the difficulty? That figurative sense is close to ‘understand’ rather than to ‘imagine’, so it fails for the same reason and one more besides: ‘see’ implies that the thing is there to be perceived, while ‘imagine’ implies that it is not, and has to be supplied by the mind. English does have ‘see’ in the sense of visualising — I can just see him doing it — but that is a colloquial construction with a person and an action, and it will not carry the wh-clause the printed sentence uses.

Concept

The item tests the family of verbs of mental activity, which English divides finely and which examiners return to because the divisions are easy to feel and hard to state.

Set the field out. THINK is the broad verb for holding or forming something in the mind, and it is the general term the others specialise. IMAGINE is to form a conception or picture of what is not present. CONCEIVE is the formal partner of imagine, to form an idea of. SUPPOSE and ASSUME take something as true for the sake of argument. BELIEVE holds something to be true. UNDERSTAND grasps meaning or reason. REALISE comes to understand something suddenly, or becomes aware of it. FEEL leans towards an opinion on grounds of sentiment. RECKON and CONSIDER weigh and judge.

What makes ‘think’ the answer here rather than the vaguest option is that it shares both the sense and the pattern. English pairs ‘can’t think how’ with ‘can’t imagine how’, ‘who would have thought’ with ‘who would have imagined’, and in each pair the two verbs are doing the same work. A general word is only a wrong answer when a more exact option is available; here the more exact-sounding options belong to different mental acts.

The sentence’s frame is also worth learning: ‘It is difficult for us to imagine …’ uses the anticipatory ‘it’, with the real subject placed at the end as an infinitive phrase. The same frame gives it is easy to see, it is hard to say, it was impossible for them to refuse.

This is the third item of the ‘Synonyms’ block, printed without Directions of its own. Its option set is built to punish reading for fluency rather than for meaning: two of the four options — ‘understand’ and ‘see’ in its figurative sense — would produce a perfectly natural English sentence, and neither is what the underlined word means.

That distinction is worth taking seriously beyond the exam hall. Reports, notes and orders are read for what they claim, and a writer who treats ‘imagine’, ‘understand’ and ‘believe’ as interchangeable will one day record that an officer understood something when what he did was assume it. The precision this item asks for is the same precision an office asks for.

Under time pressure the useful discipline is to name the mental act before looking down at the options. If the underlined verb is about forming a picture, the answer will be a verb about forming a picture; if it is about grasping a reason, the answer will be about grasping a reason. Fluency is not the test — replacement is.

Key facts

‘Imagine’ means to form an idea or a picture of something in the mind, and the standard synonym group in English dictionaries links it with think, conceive, fancy and envisage as verbs meaning to form an idea of something.
English uses ‘think’ and ‘imagine’ interchangeably before a wh-clause: I can’t think how she manages, I can’t imagine how she manages; who would have thought it, who would have imagined it.
‘Understand’ means to grasp the meaning, working or reason of something, which is a different mental act from forming a conception of it.
‘See’ means to perceive with the eyes, and figuratively to understand; it implies that the thing is there to be perceived, where ‘imagine’ implies that the mind must supply it.
‘Feel’ leans towards sensation and emotion, and in its opinion sense reports an impression rather than a formed idea.
The sentence uses the anticipatory ‘it’ — ‘It is difficult for us to imagine …’ — with the real subject held back as an infinitive phrase.

Verbs of mental activity — which one shares ‘imagine’s’ sense AND its pattern

think→The broad verb for forming or holding something in the mind, and the general term the others specialise. It shares the grammar as well as the sense: English pairs ‘can’t think how she manages’ with ‘can’t imagine how she manages’, and ‘who would have thought it’ with ‘who would have imagined it’. In each pair the two verbs do the same work.

understand→The nearest miss. To understand is to grasp the meaning, working or reason of something. A person may understand perfectly well why safety matters and still be unable to form any conception of how much it means — the two mental acts are distinct.

see→To perceive with the eyes, and in a common figurative use to understand: I see what you mean. It fails for the same reason as ‘understand’, and for one more — ‘see’ implies the thing is there to be perceived, where ‘imagine’ implies the mind must supply it.

feel→To perceive by sensation or emotion, and in its opinion sense to lean towards a view without full reasoning: I feel he is right. That is a leaning rather than a formed picture, and it sits on the side of emotion.

The rest of the family→Conceive is the formal partner of imagine. Suppose and assume take something as true for the sake of argument. Believe holds it true. Realise comes to understand suddenly. Reckon and consider weigh and judge.

Why the general word wins here→A general word is a wrong answer only when a more exact option is actually available. Here the more exact-sounding options belong to different mental acts altogether.

Study next

Verbs of mental activity and the acts they name: think, imagine, conceive, suppose, assume, believe, understand, realise, feel, consider.Verb patterns after these verbs — a that-clause, a wh-clause, an object with an infinitive — and which verbs take which.The anticipatory ‘it’ construction: it is difficult to say, it is easy for us to see, it was impossible for them to refuse.Testing a synonym by substitution rather than by fluency, and why an option that reads smoothly may still change the claim.Pairs of verbs that examiners return to because the difference is easy to feel and hard to state — assume and presume, notice and observe, tell and say.

Common traps

Choosing the option that makes the best-sounding sentence. Two of these four would read perfectly well and still say something the underlined word does not.
Rejecting the broad word on principle. A general verb is wrong only when a more exact option is available, and here the exact-sounding options name different mental acts.
Confusing grasping a reason with forming a picture. Understanding why safety matters and imagining how much it matters are not the same claim.
Forgetting that this block asks for the nearest match. The block before it, printed identically, asks for the opposite.

Synonym items built on very common verbs are harder than they look, because every option is a word the candidate has used since childhood and the differences have never been put into words. Expect an option that would produce a smooth sentence with a different meaning, an option from the emotional side of the same field, and an option whose figurative sense wanders towards a neighbouring verb. The way to prepare is to write the distinctions down — imagine against understand, assume against presume, notice against observe — because recognising a difference you have never stated is exactly what fails under time pressure.

Related PYQs

EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q11Open & attempt →

Directions : Each item in this section consists of a sentence with an underlined word followed by four words. Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word and mark your response in your Answer Sheet accordingly. Today the newspaper is full of carnage and violence.

(a) bloodshed
(b) lust
(c) concern
(d) satire

Answer(a) bloodshed

The head of this block, whose Directions ask for the word nearest in meaning and are printed once for all five items.

EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q14Open & attempt →

Public service is not merely something that occupies the hours you are doing it, but invades all your life and experience and affects them in one way or the other.

(a) preserves
(b) demolishes
(c) covers
(d) spoils

Answer(c) covers

The next item of the block, where the option that reads most naturally is refused because it carries a judgement the printed sentence does not make.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word : It is hard to conceive of a scheme that would satisfy every one of the claimants.
- (a)imagine
- (b)approve
- (c)explain
- (d)administer
Answer(a) imagine — to conceive of something is to form an idea of it in the mind, which is exactly what ‘imagine’ names, and the sentence keeps its claim when the substitution is made. ‘Approve’ is about consent, ‘explain’ about making something clear to others, and ‘administer’ about running a scheme once it exists.
practice — not a real PYQ
In which one of the following sentences does ‘see’ carry the sense of understanding rather than of perceiving with the eyes ?
- (a)From the terrace we could see the whole valley.
- (b)I see why the department returned the file.
- (c)She went to see the Commissioner at eleven.
- (d)He could not see the road in the fog.
Answer(b) I see why the department returned the file. — here ‘see’ means grasp the reason, the same sense as ‘understand’. In the other three the verb is literal: taking in a view with the eyes, paying somebody a visit, and failing to make out the road.

Why