SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 25 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. Gandhi, (1)_________ father of the Indian nation, practiced ‘ahimsa’ in his personal and political life. He firmly believed that non-violence is not meant merely for monks, saints and priests; it is for commoners too. If violence is the law of the (2)_______-beasts, non-violence is the law of the civilised human species. ‘The spirit of the brute is inactive and so he knows no law; he knows only physical might. The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law, to strength of the spirit,’ Gandhi said. Ahimsa, to Gandhiji, meant that one should love all; even (3)________ enemies. And the expression of love, ahimsa, should be in such a manner that it impresses itself indelibly upon the so-called enemy, and then the enemy must return that love. It is a practically (4)________ philosophy. Gandhi was realistic; he believed that non-violence provides the fullest protection to one’s self-respect and sense of humour. It won’t work in the defence of (5)_______ gains and immoral acts. He called his marches off when people indulged in violence during protests for India’s freedom. His faith in ‘ahimsa’ played an influential role in enabling the creation of an independent India in 1947, with minimum bloodshed, breaking the shackles framed by the British.

Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 5.

(a)relevant
(b)ill-gotten
(c)ill-will
(d)moral

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The blank modifies gains, and gains is joined by and to immoral acts under one preposition, so the modifier has to carry the same negative charge as immoral.

Ill-gotten means acquired dishonestly, and ill-gotten gains is the settled English phrase for money or advantage come by through wrong means.

So option (b) satisfies both tests at once: it is the collocation the noun expects, and it keeps the parallel that makes the sentence a refusal.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
relevant — Relevant is neutral and says nothing about how the gains were come by. It also breaks the parallel with immoral acts, which is what makes the clause a refusal.
(c)
ill-will — Ill-will is a noun meaning hostility or resentment, not a modifier of gains. The fixed compound that goes with gains is ill-gotten.
(d)
moral — Moral reverses the sense. Whatever fills the blank is joined by and to immoral acts under one preposition, so it has to be as negative as immoral; moral gains would make the clause say ahimsa fails to defend what is right.

Concept

A cloze blank sitting beside a conjunction is usually testing parallel sense. Read what the blank has been joined to.

Here gains and immoral acts share one preposition and one verb, so both must be things ahimsa refuses to defend. Whatever modifies gains has to be as negative as immoral.

Collocation then narrows it further. English has one settled phrase for dishonest profit, and it is ill-gotten gains rather than ill gains or wrong gains.

Ill- forms compound adjectives such as ill-gotten, ill-advised and ill-mannered. These are learnt whole rather than assembled on the spot, which is why the two-word noun ill will looks close enough to tempt.

Key facts

Ill-gotten gains means money or advantage obtained dishonestly.
Ill will, written as two words, is a noun meaning hostility or resentment.
Ill- also builds ill-advised, ill-treated and ill-mannered.
Words joined by and normally match one another in sense, which makes parallelism a usable test on a cloze blank.

Study next

Fixed adjective and noun collocations: heavy rain, strong tea, ill-gotten gainsCompound adjectives formed with ill-, well- and self-Using parallel structure to narrow a cloze blank before testing meaning

Common traps

Choosing ill-will because it shares the ill- opening with the answer
Choosing moral by reading the sentence as a claim for non-violence rather than as a limit on it

Sense rather than grammar decides this blank, since relevant, moral and ill-gotten can all stand in front of a noun. Blank 2 at English Q.22 of this paper is also a compound adjective, but there the test is form.

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. Gandhi, (1)_________ father of the Indian nation, practiced ‘ahimsa’ in his personal and political life. He firmly believed that non-violence is not meant merely for monks, saints and priests; it is for commoners too. If violence is the law of the (2)_______-beasts, non-violence is the law of the civilised human species. ‘The spirit of the brute is inactive and so he knows no law; he knows only physical might. The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law, to strength of the spirit,’ Gandhi said. Ahimsa, to Gandhiji, meant that one should love all; even (3)________ enemies. And the expression of love, ahimsa, should be in such a manner that it impresses itself indelibly upon the so-called enemy, and then the enemy must return that love. It is a practically (4)________ philosophy. Gandhi was realistic; he believed that non-violence provides the fullest protection to one’s self-respect and sense of humour. It won’t work in the defence of (5)_______ gains and immoral acts. He called his marches off when people indulged in violence during protests for India’s freedom. His faith in ‘ahimsa’ played an influential role in enabling the creation of an independent India in 1947, with minimum bloodshed, breaking the shackles framed by the British.