SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 17 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 correct meaning of the underlined idiom in the following sentence. Rina pulled a long face since her husband had not bought her a diamond necklace on their anniversary.

(a)To be ecstatic
(b)To be euphoric
(c)To be electrified
(d)To look saddened

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The idiom is pull a long face, and it means to look sad, sulky or disappointed — the expression falls and the face seems to lengthen.

The sentence hands you the cause as well: her husband had not bought her a diamond necklace on their anniversary. What follows a disappointment of that kind is a downcast look.

"To look saddened" matches both the idiom and the sentence, and it is the meaning the key takes: option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
To be ecstatic — Ecstatic means overwhelmingly happy. It is the reverse of the reaction the sentence sets up, since the gift Rina expected did not arrive.
(b)
To be euphoric — Euphoric means intensely elated, a near-synonym of ecstatic. Nothing in the sentence produces elation, so it fails for the same reason.
(c)
To be electrified — Electrified means thrilled or jolted into excitement. It names a surge of energy, not the drooping expression that a long face describes.

Concept

An idiom's meaning cannot be assembled from its words, which is exactly what is being tested. Pull a long face has nothing to do with pulling: it describes an expression of sadness, sulkiness or visible disappointment.

When the idiom is unfamiliar, the sentence around it is your second source of evidence. The clause since her husband had not bought her a diamond necklace states a disappointment, so the meaning has to sit on the unhappy side of the line.

That single observation separates the keyed option from the rest here, because the three wrong meanings are all states of high excitement.

Notice how the wrong options are built. Ecstatic, euphoric and electrified are close to one another in force, so they cannot be told apart on meaning and none of them can be the answer on its own. A list that clusters like that is itself a signal.

Key facts

To pull a long face means to look sad, sulky or disappointed.
Ecstatic and euphoric both mean intensely happy, and are near-synonyms rather than alternatives.
Electrified means thrilled or startled into sudden excitement.
In this item the reason clause introduced by "since" points to the answer before the idiom is recognised.

Study next

Face and expression idioms (a long face, a straight face, face the music)Using the reason or result clause to place an unfamiliar idiom on the positive or negative sideIdiom lists where every wrong option is a near-synonym of the others

Common traps

Reading "pulled a long face" as making a face at someone, which is a different idea altogether.
Choosing "electrified" because it is the least familiar word and looks the most exam-like.
Ignoring the reason clause and guessing from the idiom alone.

Idiom items come either bare or inside a sentence. English Q.1 of this paper gives "To bring to light" with no sentence at all, while 17 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.6 ("keep the wolf from the door") and 24 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.9 ("the gift of the gab") supply a sentence, as this item does.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.