SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 20 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 10 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 meaning of the given idiom. Turned a deaf ear to

(a)Rebuked
(b)Disregarded
(c)By any means
(d)At intervals

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Turn a deaf ear to something means to refuse to listen to it — to ignore a request, a warning or a complaint you have plainly heard.

Disregarded states that same act in one word: paid no attention to it.

The idiom carries a deliberate edge — the hearer could listen and chooses not to — and disregard carries the same edge, which is why option (b) is the closest of the four glosses.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Rebuked — Rebuked means sharply criticised or scolded. That is an active response to what was said, while the idiom describes declining to respond at all.
(c)
By any means — By any means is an adverbial phrase meaning in whatever way is necessary. It cannot gloss a verb phrase, and it says nothing about listening or ignoring.
(d)
At intervals — At intervals means from time to time — a statement of frequency. The idiom is about the response given, not about how often anything happens.

Concept

An idiom is decided by the fixed meaning of the whole phrase, not by its parts. Deaf here does not say the person cannot hear; it reports a choice to ignore.

The option set is stocked with unrelated glosses, so the reliable method is to paraphrase the idiom in your own words first and then look for the option that matches your paraphrase.

Grammar helps as well. An idiom that behaves as a verb phrase should be glossed by a verb, which quietly removes any adverbial option before meaning is weighed.

The stem keeps the preposition — turned a deaf ear to — so the gloss should be transitive, something you do to a request or a warning. Disregarded fits that frame.

Key facts

Turn a deaf ear to means to refuse to listen to a request, warning or complaint.
Disregard means to pay no attention to something, which is the idiom's meaning stated plainly.
The idiom implies a choice not to listen rather than an inability to hear.

Study next

Idioms built on the senses, such as turn a blind eye toMatching an idiom's grammar to its gloss before matching its meaningIdioms of frequency such as off and on, which are used as decoys in glossing items

Common traps

Reading deaf literally and looking for an option about hearing loss
Choosing Rebuked because both it and the idiom describe an unfriendly reaction
Accepting an adverbial phrase as the meaning of a verb-shaped idiom

Idiom glosses come either as a bare phrase with four one-line meanings, as here, or with the idiom underlined inside a sentence.

A bare-phrase idiom is also set at English Q.3 of the 13 Sep 2024, 09:00 paper — A bad patch, keyed a period of time when a person faces lots of troubles — and the sentence-framed version at 23 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.20, where off and on is keyed Periodically.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.