SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 23 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 8 of 100

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.

Parts of the following sentence have been given as options. Select the option that contains an error. He always wants to be in the company of those who are intellectually superior than him.

(a)those who are intellectually
(b)superior than him.
(c)He always wants to
(d)be in the company of

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Superior came into English as a Latin comparative, and words of that family are followed by to, never by than. The segment has to read superior to him, so the error is in option (b).

The same rule governs inferior, senior, junior, prior, anterior and posterior. None of them takes than, and none of them takes more in front of it.

The pronoun him is correct as printed, because it is the object of the preposition to.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
those who are intellectually — those who are intellectually is sound. Those is plural and takes who are, and intellectually is an adverb correctly modifying the adjective that follows.
(c)
He always wants to — He always wants to is sound. Wants agrees with the singular He, and the adverb of frequency always sits in its normal position before the main verb.
(d)
be in the company of — be in the company of is sound. In the company of is the fixed phrase, and be completes wants to from the segment before it.

Concept

Error-spotting items are read segment by segment, and most turn on a fixed partnership — a word that always takes one particular preposition, tense or number.

The partnership here is superior + to. Superior already contains the comparison, so English does not add its own comparative machinery on top of it.

Write superior to, inferior to, senior to, junior to, prior to. Never superior than, and never more superior.

Than after superior is a very common spoken slip and passes unnoticed in conversation, which is why SSC prints it and expects candidates to hear it as normal.

Key facts

Superior, inferior, senior, junior, prior, anterior and posterior are followed by to, not than.
These adjectives are already comparative, so more superior and most superior are wrong.
After the preposition to a pronoun takes its object form: superior to him, not superior to he.
Prefer belongs to the same pattern: one thing is preferred to another, never preferred than.

Study next

Latin comparatives that take to: superior, inferior, senior, junior, priorAdjective and preposition partnerships: capable of, averse to, devoid ofDouble comparatives and superlatives: more better, most easiest

Common traps

Hunting for a wrong tense or a wrong pronoun and missing that the fault is a preposition
Accepting superior than because it sounds ordinary in speech

The very same segment, is superior than, is the keyed error on 12 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.13. SSC works the comparative in other shapes too: is best than at 09 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.4, and so better as at 10 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.18.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.