SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 23 of 100

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 6 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.

In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Appearances may not reveal the man. So, you shouldn't make (1) _________ about a man's character based on how he (2) _________ . People smile and smile, yet prove to be (3) _________ . On the other hand, people with rough exteriors prove to be the (4) _________ and most considerate people on earth. They are the people who are beautiful from (5) _________ .

Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 3.(

(a)sparkling
(b)ecstatic
(c)grumpy
(d)joyful

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The connector is yet, which announces a contrast. Whatever fills the blank has to clash with "People smile and smile".

Three of the four options agree with smiling instead of contradicting it, so none of them can follow yet. Grumpy — bad-tempered and sulky — is the one that reverses the tone.

It also matches the passage's argument that a pleasant surface can hide an unpleasant nature, so option (c) is the fit.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
sparkling — sparkling describes someone lively and brilliant in manner. It agrees with smile and smile rather than contrasting with it, and yet demands a reversal.
(b)
ecstatic — ecstatic means overwhelmingly joyful — a stronger version of smiling, not its opposite. After yet the sentence would contradict nothing.
(d)
joyful — joyful is the plainest agreement of the four: smiling people who prove joyful are no surprise. The contrast word yet needs the sentence to turn, and this leaves it flat.

Concept

Connectors are the cheapest marks in a cloze passage, because they fix the direction of the missing word before you know its meaning.

Yet, but, however, although, on the other hand all signal reversal. And, moreover, so, therefore signal continuation.

Here "People smile and smile, yet prove to be ___" carries a reversal signal, so the blank must be negative in tone. That single test removes sparkling, ecstatic and joyful together, with no need to weigh shades of meaning.

Grumpy is the most informal word in the set, which is exactly why candidates reject it. Register is not the test here; direction is.

Key facts

Grumpy means bad-tempered and irritable.
Yet is a contrast connector: the clause after it reverses the clause before it.
The next sentence of the passage opens On the other hand, a second reversal signal in the same paragraph.
Sparkling, ecstatic and joyful are all positive in tone, so none can follow yet here.

Study next

Contrast connectors: but, yet, however, nevertheless, whereasContinuation connectors: moreover, furthermore, besides, likewiseTone matching in cloze passages, where the option set splits positive against negative

Common traps

Weighing the three positive options against each other instead of noticing that yet rules out all three at once.
Rejecting grumpy as too informal for a written passage.

A connector-driven blank like this is solved from structure, not vocabulary: find the signal word, fix the direction, then read the options. The rest of the block sits at English Q21, Q22, Q24 and Q25 of this shift.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Appearances may not reveal the man. So, you shouldn't make (1) _________ about a man's character based on how he (2) _________ . People smile and smile, yet prove to be (3) _________ . On the other hand, people with rough exteriors prove to be the (4) _________ and most considerate people on earth. They are the people who are beautiful from (5) _________ .