SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 22 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.

In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. People often say that the stars govern their fate but they forget the fact that success or failure is the result of one’s own (1)________. If we sow chaff, we can’t reap grain; and the result or consequence of an action depends on what one does and to the extent he (2)________ it. If we work hard, we succeed only to the extent that we work. People who think that the law of karma is (3)________ may feel that if one is destined to get something he will always get it whether he strives for it or not. But experience tells us that reward and punishments are the direct result of our action. Honesty and hard work never go unrewarded and (4)________ and evil deeds never go (5)________. In fact even the law of karma, in its proper sense, means that the fruit we get is decided by whatever actions we did in the past.

Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 2.

(a)does
(b)have
(c)put
(d)create

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Check the subject before the meaning. The blank's subject is he, third person singular, so a present-tense verb here must carry the -s ending.

'Have', 'put' and 'create' are all offered in the bare form. Does is the one that is already third person singular.

The sense agrees. The same sentence has just said 'depends on what one does', and the blank repeats that verb for the second half of the pair: to the extent he does it.

Option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
have — Have does not agree with 'he' — that would need 'has' — and 'he has it' would say he possesses the action, not that he carries it out.
(c)
put — Put looks like a present form but is identical in the past, so 'he put it' reads as past tense inside a present-tense sentence, and 'put an action' is not English.
(d)
create — Create does not agree with 'he' either, since it would have to be 'creates'. It also says he brings the action into being, while the sentence is measuring how much of it he performs.

Concept

Two filters settle most single-word cloze blanks, and grammar comes first because it is cheaper.

Agreement: the subject is 'he', so the present-tense verb needs -s. Three of the four options are bare forms and fail before their meaning is weighed at all.

Collocation and echo: 'do' is the verb English uses with 'action', and the sentence has already used it once. 'Have an action' and 'put an action' are not English collocations.

You can answer this blank without following the argument of the passage. When a cloze offers one inflected verb among bare forms, look at the subject first.

Key facts

In the simple present, a third-person singular subject takes the -s form: he does, he has, he creates.
'Put' has the same shape in the present and the past, which is what makes 'he put' read as past tense.
'Do' is the verb that collocates with 'action' and with 'deed'.

Study next

Subject-verb agreement in the simple present, including with 'one' and 'everyone'Verbs whose past form matches the base form, such as put, cut, cost and setDelexical verbs: which of do, make, have and take goes with which noun

Common traps

Weighing the meaning of all four options before checking whether they agree with 'he'.
Reading 'put' as a present-tense form because it carries no -ed.

A cloze blank can be a plain agreement test with the passage playing no part in it.

The same test is keyed at 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, EC Q.22, where 'the (1)____ of heart-attacks in young Indians (2)____ increased tremendously' takes has rather than 'have', because the head noun is the singular 'number'.

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. People often say that the stars govern their fate but they forget the fact that success or failure is the result of one’s own (1)________. If we sow chaff, we can’t reap grain; and the result or consequence of an action depends on what one does and to the extent he (2)________ it. If we work hard, we succeed only to the extent that we work. People who think that the law of karma is (3)________ may feel that if one is destined to get something he will always get it whether he strives for it or not. But experience tells us that reward and punishments are the direct result of our action. Honesty and hard work never go unrewarded and (4)________ and evil deeds never go (5)________. In fact even the law of karma, in its proper sense, means that the fruit we get is decided by whatever actions we did in the past.