SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 4 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 option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the underlined group of words in the following sentence. Almost immediately, they heard the high shrill piercing cry of tires on the side road.

(a)beseech
(b)screech
(c)creche
(d)bleach

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The group of words is 'high shrill piercing cry', and screech is the noun English keeps for exactly that: a long, harsh, high-pitched sound.

It is also the collocation the sentence is built on — tires screech, brakes screech, an owl screeches.

All four options rhyme, which is the whole difficulty. Say them aloud and they are interchangeable; read their meanings and option (b) is the one that names a noise at all.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
beseech — Beseech means to beg someone earnestly, as in 'I beseech you to listen'. It is a verb of pleading, while the sentence needs a noun naming a sound.
(c)
creche — A creche is a nursery where small children are looked after while their parents work. The paper prints it without its accent, but it still has nothing to do with noise.
(d)
bleach — Bleach is a whitening or disinfecting chemical, and the verb for using one. It rhymes with the keyed word and shares nothing else with a piercing cry.

Concept

A one-word substitute item asks for the single word that carries a whole descriptive phrase. Here the phrase describes a sound, so the first filter is blunt: discard every option that does not name a noise.

That filter is enough, because this option set is built on rhyme rather than on meaning. Beseech, screech, creche and bleach differ by a letter or two at the front and by everything at the back, so a candidate reading quickly sees four near-identical words.

The paper prints 'tires' in the American spelling and 'creche' without its accent, crèche. Quote the paper as it stands, and do not mistake its spelling habits for the point being tested.

Key facts

A screech is a long, loud, harsh, high-pitched sound, and screeching tires is a standard collocation.
Beseech means to ask someone urgently and earnestly.
A creche is a place where babies and small children are cared for during the working day.
Bleach is a substance used to whiten or disinfect, and also the verb for doing so.

Study next

Sound vocabulary in English: screech, shriek, squeal, creak, rumble, rustleOption sets built on rhyme, where meaning rather than spelling separates the fourOne-word substitutes for a phrase embedded in a sentence rather than a bare definition

Common traps

Choosing 'beseech' because it looks the most literary word in the set.
Reading only the first and last letters under time pressure, when all four options rhyme.

SSC runs one-word substitution two ways: as a bare definition, and — as here — with the phrase sitting inside a sentence you must read past.

Rhyming option sets are also asked 11 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.17 (oblique, pique, antique, clique) and 23 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.5 (import, portable, potable, export).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.