Select the word-pair that best represents a similar relationship to the one expressed in the pair of words given below. (The words must be considered as meaningful English words and must NOT be related to each other based on the number of letters/number of consonants/vowels in the word) Virus : Parasite

Correct — A. The given pair is a member and its category.

Rule: X is a kind of Y.

A virus can reproduce only inside a living host cell, which is why biology calls it a parasite — so virus sits inside the class parasite.

Amaltas (Cassia fistula) is a named tree, sitting inside the class tree in exactly the same way. Only option (a) reproduces that fit.

The bracketed rider also blocks the lazy route: you may not pair on letter, consonant or vowel counts.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Fungus : Jasmine — A fungus is not a kind of jasmine — jasmine is a flowering plant and fungi are a separate kingdom altogether, so neither word names a class the other belongs to.
• (c)
  Algae : Flower — Algae bear no flowers, so flower cannot be the class algae fall under. The pair fails the 'X is a kind of Y' test in both directions.
• (d)
  Fenugreek : Micro organism — Fenugreek (methi) is a flowering herb grown as a crop, not a micro organism. The second word names the wrong class, which is the reverse of the virus-parasite fit.

Word-pair analogies turn on the KIND of link, not on the subject matter. The frames SSC reuses are class-and-member, part-and-whole, worker-and-tool, and cause-and-effect.

Fix the link in one plain sentence before you look down at the options. Here that sentence is 'a virus is a kind of parasite', and the option that fits it word for word wins.

The bracketed rider is doing real work. It bars pairing on letter counts, consonants or vowels, so a coincidence of spelling is never the intended link.

Key facts

• Amaltas is the Indian name for Cassia fistula, a flowering tree also called the golden shower or Indian laburnum.
• A virus reproduces only inside a living host cell, which is why it is called an obligate intracellular parasite.
• Algae are non-flowering organisms and reproduce by spores rather than by flowers and seeds.
• Fenugreek (methi) is a leguminous herb whose leaves and seeds are eaten as food.

Common traps

• Choosing a pair because both words are biological, without testing 'X is a kind of Y'.
• Reading amaltas as a flower rather than as the tree it names.
• Letting a letter count or vowel count suggest a match, which the rider expressly forbids.

No directly related past PYQ was found.