SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 19 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 20 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 most appropriate synonym of the underlined word in the given sentence. She is a very creative artist and one can see that in her paintings.

(a)Likeable
(b)Good
(c)Innovative
(d)Pedantic

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Creative is built on 'create': it means able to make new things or new ideas.

The sentence anchors the word to what 'one can see in her paintings', so it is pointing at originality in her work, not at how pleasant she is.

Innovative carries exactly that sense — introducing something new — which is the match a synonym item wants → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Likeable — Likeable describes how easily a person is liked. It rates temperament, not the originality the paintings are said to show.
(b)
Good — Good is a general verdict on quality. A creative artist is usually good, but the word carries none of the newness that 'creative' means, and a synonym has to carry the core sense.
(d)
Pedantic — Pedantic means over-concerned with minor rules and details, which pulls against originality rather than restating it.

Concept

A synonym item is settled by the core sense of the word, not by whether the option could fairly describe the same person.

'Creative' means producing something that did not exist before, so any synonym must carry that newness. Likeable, good and pedantic all say something a painter might be; none of them says 'makes new things'.

The working test is substitution: put the option into the sentence and ask whether the meaning survives. 'She is a very innovative artist' keeps it; 'She is a very good artist' loses it.

The clause 'and one can see that in her paintings' is doing real work — it points the word at her output rather than at her personality, which is what pushes Likeable out.

Key facts

Creative and innovative both mean producing or introducing something new.
Innovative is used most often of methods, designs and ideas, and by extension of the people who make them.
Pedantic means excessively concerned with minor rules or details.
A synonym must match the sense of the word, not merely be a compliment that suits the same person.

Study next

Substitution as the test for a synonym inside a sentence frameAdjectives of originality: inventive, original, ingenious, innovativeWords that describe temperament set against words that describe output

Common traps

Choosing 'Good' because it sits comfortably in the sentence
Reading 'creative' as 'artistic' and then taking whichever option sounds most like praise
Answering from the underlined word alone and ignoring the clue about her paintings

SSC underlines a word inside a short sentence and asks for the nearest synonym. The trap here is an option that suits the artist — Likeable, Good — without matching creative.

The same substitution test decides 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.8 ('adapt', keyed to Adjust over Understand), and it runs in the antonym direction at Q.11 of the same sitting ('stunning', keyed to Mundane).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.