SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 23 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 1 of 97

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.

Parts of a sentence are given below in jumbled order. Arrange the parts in the correct order to form a meaningful sentence. (O) attitude is (P) or tendency in individuals (Q) a broad-based behaviour (R) which implies (S) a hypothetical postulate

(a)OSRQP
(b)SQPRO
(c)OPQRS
(d)OPSRQ

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Each part advertises what has to stand beside it.

O = "attitude is" is subject plus verb, so it opens the sentence and demands a complement immediately after it.

S = "a hypothetical postulate" is that complement. R = "which implies" is a relative clause with a transitive verb — it needs a noun before it and an object after it.

Q supplies that object, and P, which begins with the coordinator "or", attaches to Q.

OSRQP reads: "Attitude is a hypothetical postulate which implies a broad-based behaviour or tendency in individuals."

Why the others are wrong

(b)
SQPRO — SQPRO ends on O, "attitude is", leaving the sentence hanging on a verb with no complement. It also opens on a bare noun phrase that never gets a main verb.
(c)
OPQRS — OPQRS puts P straight after "attitude is", producing "attitude is or tendency in individuals". The coordinator or has nothing on its left to join.
(d)
OPSRQ — OPSRQ breaks at the same joint: "is or tendency". P can only follow the noun it coordinates with, which is Q, so it cannot sit second.

Concept

Parts-jumble items are settled by grammar, not by meaning. Every fragment carries a signal about its neighbours.

A fragment beginning with a coordinator ("or", "and", "but") cannot follow a verb directly — it has to attach to a matching noun on its left.

A fragment beginning with a relative pronoun ("which", "who", "that") must sit immediately after its antecedent noun, and if its verb is transitive an object must follow.

Find the fragment that is subject plus verb, place it first, and let those two constraints close the order.

The sentence is a textbook definition of attitude, but no psychology is needed. The coordinator "or" at the head of P disposes of both options that place P second.

Key facts

A fragment opening with "or" must attach to a noun, so it cannot follow the verb "is" directly.
"which implies" is transitive, so an object has to appear inside the relative clause.
The finished sentence reads: Attitude is a hypothetical postulate which implies a broad-based behaviour or tendency in individuals.

Study next

Relative clauses: placing "which" immediately after its antecedentCoordinating conjunctions and what they are allowed to joinParts-jumble method: locating the subject-verb fragment first

Common traps

Assuming the part labelled O must be followed by P because of the alphabetical labels.
Reading "a broad-based behaviour or tendency" as two separate ideas and splitting Q from P.

SSC labels these fragments either O to S or A to D, and the labelling changes nothing about the method.

O-to-S versions run at 12 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.14 and 23 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.12, both keyed QORSP.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.