SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 2 · 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. The adverse (1)__________ of climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly driving human mobility the world over, particularly in countries with high exposure and low (2)__________ capacity. While most climate-related mobility currently occurs within countries, desperation and deteriorating environments can also compel people to seek a livelihood elsewhere through (3)__________ migration. While climate change negatively impacts everyone, everywhere, those already in vulnerable situations due to geography, poverty, gender, age, disability, origin, or other status, including migrant women who (4)__________ climate-sensitive livelihoods, and children who are less able to survive extreme weather events, are at the greatest risk of suffering harm. It is (5)__________ to recognise this reality and take meaningful action to protect the human rights of those most affected by climate change, including migrants.

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

(a)optional
(b)imperative
(c)resistant
(d)secondary

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The frame is It is ______ to recognise this reality and take meaningful action, so the blank needs an adjective that passes judgement on the action in the infinitive.

Imperative means essential, urgent, not to be put off — and this sentence closes a passage about people at the greatest risk of suffering harm.

The passage is arguing for protection, so the adjective has to assert necessity rather than weaken it → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
optional — Optional says the action may be skipped, which contradicts the same sentence's call to take meaningful action and protect the human rights of those affected.
(c)
resistant — Resistant describes something that withstands a force and takes to plus a noun — resistant to heat. It is resistant to recognise is not English.
(d)
secondary — Secondary ranks the action below something else, but nothing in the passage subordinates recognising this reality. It is presented as the first step towards protection.

Concept

The It is + adjective + to-infinitive frame is one of English's standard evaluative patterns: the adjective delivers the writer's verdict on the action named after to.

So read the writer's stance, not the blank alone. This passage has built to the claim that people already in vulnerable situations are at the greatest risk of suffering harm, and it ends by asking for their rights to be protected.

An adjective that weakens the demand — optional, secondary — reverses the argument. Imperative carries it.

A blank in a closing sentence usually sits inside the writer's conclusion, so check the direction of the argument before weighing dictionary meanings.

Key facts

As an adjective, imperative means essential or urgent.
As a noun it names a command, and in grammar the imperative is the mood used for commands.
The frame It is + adjective + to-infinitive judges the action in the infinitive: it is vital to act, it is pointless to argue.
Resistant is followed by to plus a noun, not by a to-infinitive.

Study next

The it is + adjective + to-infinitive pattern and the adjectives that fill itAdjectives of necessity: imperative, vital, crucial, indispensableReading a cloze passage's stance before deciding its final blank

Common traps

Deciding the blank from the sentence alone, when the direction comes from the paragraph before it
Choosing resistant because climate resistance sounds topical

Necessity vocabulary is asked from the synonym side too — indispensable is keyed to Essential at 24 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.5, and Necessary to Essential at 24 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.13.

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. The adverse (1)__________ of climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly driving human mobility the world over, particularly in countries with high exposure and low (2)__________ capacity. While most climate-related mobility currently occurs within countries, desperation and deteriorating environments can also compel people to seek a livelihood elsewhere through (3)__________ migration. While climate change negatively impacts everyone, everywhere, those already in vulnerable situations due to geography, poverty, gender, age, disability, origin, or other status, including migrant women who (4)__________ climate-sensitive livelihoods, and children who are less able to survive extreme weather events, are at the greatest risk of suffering harm. It is (5)__________ to recognise this reality and take meaningful action to protect the human rights of those most affected by climate change, including migrants.