SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 18 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 18 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 most appropriate synonym of the underlined word in the given sentence. A period of free outdoor play can provide a very necessary respite from the hustle and bustle of the day.

(a)Progression
(b)Commencement
(c)Break
(d)Continuation

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Respite is a short period of rest or relief from something tiring or difficult, which is exactly what Break names.

The sentence hands you the test: the play period gives relief from the hustle and bustle of the day. Whatever fills the blank must be a pause in that busyness.

Option (c) is the pause. The other three all describe the day carrying on.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Progression — Progression is forward movement, a steady advance through stages. That is the day continuing, not the relief from it the sentence asks for.
(b)
Commencement — Commencement means a beginning. A respite falls in the middle of something and interrupts it, so a word for starting cannot replace it.
(d)
Continuation — Continuation is the hustle and bustle running on unbroken, which is precisely what a respite breaks. It tempts candidates because it sits comfortably beside the word period.

Concept

A synonym printed inside a sentence is a context item, not a recall item. The sentence names the thing the word stands against, and that contrast fixes which sense is wanted.

Here the contrast is hustle and bustle, a fixed phrase for noisy, crowded activity. A word meaning relief from that has to denote an interval, so the four options split cleanly into one pause and three kinds of going on.

Respite reached English through Old French from Latin respectus. Its everyday sense is a short rest from something demanding, and it keeps a narrower legal sense: a postponement of a punishment or sentence.

SSC underlines a word inside a sentence when the sentence is doing work. Read the phrase the word attaches to — here respite from — before you look at the options.

Key facts

Respite means a short period of rest or relief from something difficult, tiring or unpleasant.
Respite also has a legal sense: a temporary postponement of a sentence or punishment.
Hustle and bustle is a fixed phrase meaning busy, noisy activity.
In health care, respite care means short-term relief provided to a regular carer.

Study next

Synonyms decided by sentence context rather than by isolated dictionary meaningWords for an interval of rest: respite, hiatus, interlude, lull, reprieveFixed reduplicative phrases such as hustle and bustle, wear and tear, hue and cry

Common traps

Reading only the underlined word and picking the most familiar option without testing it in the sentence.
Choosing Continuation because it collocates naturally with period, when the sentence needs the interruption of the day rather than its flow.

SSC runs the synonym item both ways — underlined inside a sentence, as here, and as a bare word, as at English Q.19 of this shift (Mellifluous).

The option shape is worth learning too: three options lean one way and one opposes them. 17 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.5 is built the same way, where Processed, Artificial and Imitation all lean towards Synthetic.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.