SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 15 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 option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. A person who is inclined to see the worst aspect of things

(a)Philanthropist
(b)Pessimist
(c)Altruist
(d)Optimist

Answer

Why

Correct — B. A pessimist is a person inclined to expect the worst, or to see the worst side of things — which is the stem's definition almost word for word.

The deciding phrase is the worst aspect. It makes the item about an expectation of outcomes, not about generosity or self-sacrifice, and option (b) is the only word offered that names such an expectation.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Philanthropist — Philanthropist is one who promotes human welfare, usually by giving money. That describes what a person does for others, not what they expect to happen.
(c)
Altruist — Altruist is one who acts for the benefit of others at their own cost. Selflessness again, with nothing about seeing the worst in things.
(d)
Optimist — Optimist is the exact reverse: a person inclined to see the best aspect and expect a good outcome.

Concept

One-word substitutes are graded on precision. Several options may be broadly 'a kind of person', and only one answers the defining phrase as written.

Read the definition for its core idea first. Here that idea is an attitude to outcomes, which separates pessimist and optimist from philanthropist and altruist in one move.

Then read the direction word. 'Worst' points one way and 'best' the other, and that single word finishes the item.

Both -ist words that survive the first cut are common English, so this is not a vocabulary test so much as a test of whether the stem was read to the end.

Key facts

A pessimist is inclined to expect the worst outcome.
An optimist is inclined to expect the best outcome.
A philanthropist promotes human welfare, typically by donating money.
An altruist acts for the benefit of others at cost to themselves.

Study next

Person-nouns in -ist and the attitude each namesOne-word substitutes for fields of study: numismatics, cartography, choreographyPaired opposites in substitution items: optimist and pessimist, altruist and egoist

Common traps

Answering optimist after reading only 'inclined to see the ... aspect of things'.
Choosing philanthropist or altruist because they are the more familiar words on the page.

SSC repeats this pair by rewording the definition rather than changing the word.

'One who tends to look at the dark side of things' is asked on 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.13, and 'One who looks at the bright side of things/situations' on 26 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.5. English Q.2 of this paper runs the same format for the study of coins.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.