SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 20 of 98

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 10 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Select the correctly spelt word.

(a)Collaegue
(b)Conscensus
(c)Entrepreneurship
(d)Bizzaire

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Entrepreneurship is spelt right, and its shape comes straight from French entreprendre, to undertake.

Keep the French agent ending: entre + pre + neur + ship. The syllable is -neur, never -nuer or -ner.

Each of the other spellings breaks a rule you can name — the words are colleague, consensus and bizarre. Option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Collaegue — Collaegue swaps the two vowels. The word is colleague: col + league, the same league you play in, so the ending is -eague and not -aegue.
(b)
Conscensus — Conscensus inserts a c that belongs to conscience and science. The word is consensus, built on Latin sentire, to feel — the root of consent, not of census.
(d)
Bizzaire — Bizzaire doubles the z and adds a stray i. The word is bizarre: one z, two r's, and a plain -arre ending.

Concept

Spelling items are decided by a word's history, not by how it sounds.

Entrepreneurship keeps the French -eur agent ending, the same ending as amateur, chauffeur and connoisseur. Colleague keeps the whole word league visible inside it. Consensus keeps the sens- of sentire, which is why it looks like consent. Bizarre stays a French loan with a single z.

Once you can point to the parent word or the parent language, the trap spelling stops looking plausible.

SSC asks this item in both directions — sometimes for the correctly spelt word, sometimes for the INCORRECTLY spelt one. Read the instruction before you scan the options.

Key facts

Entrepreneurship comes from French entreprendre, to undertake, and keeps the French -eur ending.
Colleague contains the whole word league, which fixes the -eague ending.
Consensus shares its root with consent, from Latin sentire, and takes no c after cons-.
Bizarre has one z and two r's.

Study next

French loans in English spelling, such as connoisseur, liaison and rendezvousDouble-letter traps: embarrass, harass, accommodate and occurrenceWords with a smaller word still visible inside them, such as league in colleague

Common traps

Doubling a letter that should stand alone, which is what Bizzaire does with its z.
Reading Conscensus as if it came from census rather than from consent.
Answering the opposite of what was asked when the instruction says INCORRECTLY spelt.

Select the correctly spelt word is also keyed at 10 Sep 2024, 12:30 PM, English Q.4 (Privilege) and at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30 PM, English Q.18 (Conscientious).

The inverted form runs at 9 Sep 2024, 9:00 AM, English Q.12, where Bureaucracy, Embarrass, Connoisseur and Relevent are offered and the key is the misspelt Relevent.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.