SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 6 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.

Parts of a sentence are given below in jumbled order. Select the option that arranges the parts in the correct sequence to form a meaningful sentence. (P) an open mind (Q) seek it with (O) for personal growth and development (R) knowledge is a powerful tool

(a)QROP
(b)ORPQ
(c)PQRO
(d)ROQP

Answer

Why

Correct — D. R is the part with a subject and a finite verb — knowledge is a powerful tool — so it has to open.

O, for personal growth and development, is a prepositional phrase that modifies tool, so it attaches directly after it.

Q, seek it with, carries the pronoun it, which needs knowledge already named, and its stranded preposition with has to be completed by P, an open mind.

R + O + Q + P reads "Knowledge is a powerful tool for personal growth and development, seek it with an open mind." — option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
QROP — Opening with Q leaves it with no antecedent, and it strands with in front of a whole clause instead of a noun.
(b)
ORPQ — Opening with O puts a prepositional phrase in front of the noun it modifies, and the sentence then ends on the stranded with.
(c)
PQRO — Opening with P gives a bare noun phrase, an open mind, that has no verb, and it again puts a clause after with.

Concept

Parts-jumble items are decided by grammar, not by meaning. Three tests settle most of them.

Which part can open? Only a part with a subject and a finite verb, or a proper introductory phrase, can begin the sentence — here that is R.

Which parts are glued? A stranded preposition drags its object behind it, so with in Q pulls P after it.

Which pronoun needs a home? The it in Q must follow the noun it stands for, which puts R before Q.

The paper labels the parts (P), (Q), (O), (R) — an O where you would expect an S. Read the labels off the options carefully, because the sequence is what you mark.

Key facts

A prepositional phrase modifies the nearest suitable noun, so for personal growth and development follows tool rather than opening the sentence.
A preposition cannot stand before a full clause: with needs its object, an open mind.
A pronoun follows its antecedent, so seek it can only come after knowledge has been named.

Study next

Preposition plus object as an unbreakable unit inside a jumbleAntecedent rules for pronouns across clause boundariesImperative clauses joined to a statement, as in knowledge is useful, seek it

Common traps

Starting with P or O because they sound like an opening flourish, when neither contains a verb.
Separating with from an open mind, which no arrangement of this sentence allows.

SSC labels the parts (P), (Q), (R) and sometimes prints (O) where you expect (S), so read the labels before you read the parts.

11 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.15 is built the same way — four parts labelled (P), (Q), (O), (R).

At 09 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.11 the O joins a full five-part set, (O) through (S), so there it is an extra label rather than a substitute for (S).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.