SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 4 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.

Select the most appropriate synonym of the underlined word in the given sentence. Layla is the Sultan’s consort.

(a)Alcoholic
(b)Foe
(c)Partner
(d)Enemy

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Consort is a noun here — it sits straight after the possessive in the Sultan's consort, and only a noun can.

As a noun it means a spouse or companion, and in royal use the wife or husband of a reigning monarch. The title Prince Consort is the same word.

Partner, option (c), is the plain English for that relationship, and it is the one choice that names someone you are joined to rather than someone ranged against you.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Alcoholic — Alcoholic shares a first syllable with consort and nothing else. Read the sentence again — it places Layla in a relationship to the Sultan and says nothing about drink.
(b)
Foe — Foe means enemy, the opposite pole from companion. It also means the same as option (d), and two options carrying one meaning cannot hold the single right answer.
(d)
Enemy — Enemy reverses the sense of consort instead of matching it. It duplicates option (b), Foe, which is itself a reliable signal that neither is the key.

Concept

Consort carries two senses and its word class tells you which one is on the paper.

As a noun, stressed on the first syllable, it means a partner or spouse, most often a monarch's.

As a verb, stressed on the second, to consort with someone means to keep company with them, and it usually carries disapproval — he consorted with criminals.

The possessive the Sultan's forces the noun reading, and that halves the field of meanings before you look at a single option.

Two options here, Foe and Enemy, are synonyms of each other. When a synonym or antonym item offers a matched pair like that, neither member can be the unique answer, and the real choice is between the remaining two.

Key facts

As a noun, consort means a spouse or companion, and in royal use the spouse of a reigning monarch.
As a verb, to consort with someone means to keep company with them, usually with disapproval.
Foe and enemy mean the same thing, so neither can be the single answer in a one-answer item.

Study next

Words whose stress shifts with word class: consort, record, conduct, objectWords for a companion: associate, comrade, partnerReading a possessive or an article as the clue to a word's part of speech

Common traps

Reading consort as the verb, to associate with, when the possessive makes it a noun
Picking one half of the matched pair Foe and Enemy without noticing they mean the same thing

SSC alternates between the bare word and the word inside a sentence. English Q.1 of this shift gives Merit with no sentence at all, while this item embeds consort so that the possessive fixes its part of speech for you.

The embedded frame also runs at 10 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.1, where deplorable is keyed to Despicable.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.