SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 3 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 option to substitute the underlined segment in the given sentence. My sisters wished me good luck before I went on the stage to sing.

(a)Told me to break an arm
(b)Told me to break the ice
(c)Told me to sit on the fence
(d)Told me to break a leg

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The segment being replaced is wished me good luck, so the substitute must carry that meaning as an idiom.

Break a leg is the fixed theatrical phrase for wishing a performer luck, and the sentence puts the speaker on stage to sing, which is precisely where the idiom belongs → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Told me to break an arm — Break an arm is not an English idiom. It is the keyed phrase with a single word swapped, which is how a near-miss option is built.
(b)
Told me to break the ice — Break the ice means to ease the awkwardness of a first meeting and get people talking, which has nothing to do with wishing a singer luck.
(c)
Told me to sit on the fence — Sit on the fence means to stay neutral and refuse to take a side, the opposite of encouragement before a performance.

Concept

Idiom substitution gives you a plain sentence and asks for the fixed phrase that says the same thing. The test is whether you know the exact wording, because idioms do not survive synonym swaps.

Break a leg belongs to theatre superstition, where wishing someone good luck directly was thought to invite the opposite. It is now said to any performer before a show.

The wrong options are real idioms with unrelated meanings, so recognising the words is not enough. You have to know what each phrase does.

Watch the reporting verb. The original is wished me good luck, and every option replaces it with told me to, which keeps the sentence grammatical whichever idiom follows.

Key facts

Break a leg means good luck, and is said chiefly to performers before they go on.
Break the ice means to relieve initial awkwardness in a social situation.
Sit on the fence means to avoid committing to either side of a question.

Study next

Idioms built on break: break the ice, break even, break the newsPerformance idioms: steal the show, bring the house downIdioms of indecision: sit on the fence, blow hot and cold

Common traps

Reading break a leg literally and rejecting it as an unkind thing to say to a singer.
Choosing break an arm because it differs from the remembered idiom by a single word.

The same idiom is set at 9 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.4, where you choose its meaning, and at 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.17, where it substitutes an underlined segment as it does here.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.