SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 4 of 98

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 that can substitute the underlined part in the following sentence. Everyone called the reporter a daredevil after he came back safely from the war zone.

(a)a fearless person
(b)a hypocrite
(c)a common man
(d)an insignificant person

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Daredevil is a noun for someone who takes reckless risks — literally, one who dares the devil — and the sentence earns it with came back safely from the war zone.

The substitute has to sit after called the reporter, so it must be a noun phrase naming a person, article and all.

a fearless person matches the sense and fills the slot → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
a hypocrite — A hypocrite professes beliefs he does not hold. That is a charge about honesty, and nothing in the sentence puts the reporter's sincerity in question.
(c)
a common man — A common man means an ordinary person. It contradicts the sentence, which singles the reporter out precisely because he returned from a war zone.
(d)
an insignificant person — An insignificant person is a dismissal. The sentence is praise — everyone called him this after he came back safely — so a belittling phrase reverses its sense.

Concept

A substitution item asks for a plain-English replacement that survives two tests.

The first is sense: the replacement must mean what the underlined part means in this sentence. The second is fit: it must slot into the same grammatical position, so a noun phrase is replaced by a noun phrase.

Most of the wrong options here fail the sense test in the same direction — they are negative, while the sentence is admiring. The clause came back safely from the war zone is the evidence that fixes the polarity, and it is worth finding before you look at the options at all.

daredevil works as an adjective too, as in a daredevil stunt. Here it follows the article a and the verb called, so the paper is using the noun and the substitute must be a noun phrase.

Key facts

A daredevil is a person who enjoys doing dangerous things.
The word is a compound of dare and devil, one who would dare the devil himself.
In a substitution item the replacement must fit the slot grammatically, not just match in meaning.

Study next

Substituting an idiomatic phrase with its plain meaning: fell flat, the lion's share, ups and downsCompound nouns naming a kind of person: daredevil, killjoy, turncoat, spendthriftUsing the surrounding clause to fix whether a sentence is praise or criticism

Common traps

Choosing a negative option because daredevil sounds like a reproach in isolation
Ignoring the article and picking a phrase that will not sit after called the reporter

SSC underlines a figurative word or phrase and asks for the plain substitute. Read the rest of the sentence before choosing, because that is where the deciding evidence sits.

The same instruction runs at 25 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.14 (fell flat, keyed to had no effect on) and 25 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.13 (the lion's share, keyed to the major portion).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.