SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 19 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 12 of 99

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 given group of words. The statistical study of human populations.

(a)Photography
(b)Astronomy
(c)Demography
(d)Palaeography

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Split the word. Greek demos means people, and -graphy means writing or description.

Demography is therefore the description of populations — their size, births, deaths, migration and age structure — which is what the stem's statistical study of human populations asks for. The key takes option (c).

The ending decides nothing here, because photography and palaeography carry -graphy too. The first element is what has to be read.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Photography — Photo- is Greek for light, so photography is writing with light — the making of images. Nothing in it concerns people counted in numbers.
(b)
Astronomy — Astron means star. Astronomy is the study of celestial objects, and it is the one option in this set that does not even end in -graphy.
(d)
Palaeography — Palaeo- means ancient. Palaeography is the study of ancient handwriting and scripts, that is, reading old documents rather than counting populations.

Concept

One-word substitutes for fields of study are decoded from their two halves, so learn the roots rather than memorising the list.

Demography = demos (people) + -graphy (writing, description). It is the statistical study of human populations, and a census is the instrument that feeds it.

The suffix is a weak signal in this set, since three of the four options end in -graphy. The first element separates them: photo (light), palaeo (ancient), demos (people).

Palaeography and palaeontology are easily swapped. The first reads ancient writing, the second studies ancient life through fossils, and the shared palaeo tells you nothing about which is which.

Key facts

Demography is the statistical study of human populations, from Greek demos meaning people.
Palaeography is the study of ancient writing and scripts.
Astronomy is the study of celestial objects, and its -nomy ending comes from Greek nomos, meaning law.

Study next

Greek and Latin roots that build study words: -graphy, -logy, -nomy, -metryEnglish words built on demos: democracy, demagogue, endemicOne-word substitutes for other fields of study, such as numismatics and archaeology

Common traps

Matching on the -graphy ending, which most of these options share.
Confusing palaeography, the study of ancient writing, with palaeontology, the study of fossils.

Study-of items recur with the field changed and the root method unchanged.

The study of coins is keyed to Numismatics at 17 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.2, and the study of ancient things such as art, graves and ruins is keyed to Archaeology at 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.11.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.