SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 18 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 11 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 10 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. Having unlimited power

(a)Omnipotent
(b)Omnivorous
(c)Omnipresence
(d)Omniscient

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The clue 'Having unlimited power' is an adjectival phrase, so it wants an adjective, and the roots settle the rest.

Omni- is Latin for 'all' and potens means 'powerful', so omnipotent is all-powerful — power without limit. That is option (a).

The remaining three carry the same prefix but a different second root: devouring, presence and knowing. Same family, different attribute.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Omnivorous — Omnivorous is omni- plus 'vorare', to devour — it describes an animal that eats both plants and flesh. It says nothing about power.
(c)
Omnipresence — Omnipresence is a noun naming the state of being present everywhere. The clue needs a modifier, and presence is not power in any case.
(d)
Omniscient — Omniscient is omni- plus 'scire', to know — knowing everything. Unlimited knowledge and unlimited power are separate attributes.

Concept

One-word substitution in SSC is usually decidable by morphology rather than by memory. Split the option, name the roots, and hold them against the clue.

Omni- is the Latin combining form for 'all'. It joins 'potens' for omnipotent, 'sciens' for omniscient, 'vorare' for omnivorous and 'praesens' for omnipresent.

The clue's grammar narrows the field before meaning does. 'Having unlimited power' describes, so a noun option is out before you weigh what it means.

All four options open with the same prefix, which is what makes the set hard — recognition of 'omni-' buys nothing, and the second root has to do the work.

Key facts

Omni- is the Latin combining form for 'all', from 'omnis'.
Omnipotent means all-powerful, omniscient means all-knowing, omnipresent means present everywhere.
'Omnipresence' is the noun and 'omnipresent' the adjective, so the two are not interchangeable in a slot that needs a modifier.

Study next

Latin and Greek prefixes that recur in substitution sets: omni-, mal-, bene-, poly-Noun and adjective pairs from one root, such as benevolence and benevolentOne-word substitutes for authority and rule, such as sovereign and autocrat

Common traps

Choosing omniscient because 'unlimited' feels as if it should cover knowledge as well
Ignoring the part of speech the clue demands and taking the noun omnipresence

SSC often builds the option set from a single prefix, so recognising the second root is what settles the item — also asked 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.20 ('A person who has supreme power or authority' → sovereign) and 25 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.6, where 'omnivores' is printed as a decoy for a different clue.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.