SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 11 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 option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the underlined group of words. Out of those group members, Rohan is the one who opposes others, no matter what they tell him.

(a)anatomist
(b)antagonist
(c)protagonist
(d)agonist

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The underlined group is "the one who opposes others", and antagonist is the noun for exactly that: a person who actively opposes or is hostile to another.

The prefix carries the meaning. Ant(i)- means "against", joined to the Greek agon, "contest" — an antagonist is one who contends against you.

Rohan opposes whatever the group tells him, no matter what it is, so he is their antagonist: option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
anatomist — An anatomist studies anatomy, the structure of the body. Only the -ist ending links it to the keyed word; the prefix ana- means "up", as in cutting up.
(c)
protagonist — Protagonist is built on protos, "first" — the leading character of a story or the chief champion of a cause. That is the figure an antagonist is set against, not the opposer.
(d)
agonist — Agonist keeps the agon ("contest") root but drops the ant-, so it names a contender: in physiology, the muscle that contracts to produce a movement. Nothing in it means "against".

Concept

All four options end in -ist, so the ending decides nothing. The prefix does.

ant(i)- = against, giving antagonist. prot(o)- = first, giving protagonist. ana- = up or back, giving anatomy, literally a cutting up. Strip agonist of its prefix and you are left with the bare contestant.

Recovering the prefix is faster than recalling four definitions under time pressure, and it works on any one-word-substitute item built from Greek or Latin.

In literature the protagonist and antagonist are a pair, which is why SSC can print them together and expect a candidate to reach for the wrong half.

Key facts

Antagonist: a person who opposes, struggles against or competes with another.
Protagonist: the chief character or leading figure, from Greek protos, "first".
Anatomy comes from Greek anatemnein, "to cut up", so an anatomist studies bodily structure.
In physiology, the agonist muscle contracts to make a movement while the antagonist muscle relaxes.

Study next

One-word substitutes built on anti-: antidote, antipathy, antithesisThe protagonist and antagonist pair as used in literature questionsAgent nouns in -ist and what the prefix contributes to each

Common traps

Choosing protagonist because it is the more familiar half of the pair.
Treating agonist as a shortened spelling of antagonist.
Chasing a word for stubbornness, prompted by "no matter what they tell him".

One-word substitution opens this section on this date too — English Q.1 asks for the word covering "Failing to give proper care and attention", keyed Lax.

Where the options share an ending, read the prefixes; where they share a prefix, read the root.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.