SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 23 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 4 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 a sentence are given below in jumbled order. Select the option that arranges the parts in the correct sequence to form a meaningful sentence. (P) unlock their potential (Q) empowers individuals to (O) and shape their future (R) the power of education

(a)QROP
(b)RPOQ
(c)RQPO
(d)OPRQ

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Sort the parts by what each one can grammatically be.

(R) the power of education is the only noun phrase, so it is the subject and must come first.

(Q) empowers individuals to is the only finite verb, so it follows the subject, and its final to demands a bare verb next.

(P) unlock their potential supplies that verb, and (O) opens with and, which links a second infinitive — shape their future — to the first.

Reading R, Q, P, O gives: The power of education empowers individuals to unlock their potential and shape their future — option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
QROP — QROP opens with the finite verb empowers, leaving the sentence with no subject in front of it.
(b)
RPOQ — RPOQ puts unlock straight after the singular subject the power of education, where it cannot agree, and the sentence ends on the dangling to of part (Q).
(d)
OPRQ — OPRQ starts on the coordinator and, which cannot open a sentence that has nothing before it to join.

Concept

Jumbled-parts items are solved by grammar, not by meaning. Label each part by its function before you read a single option.

One part is a noun phrase with no verb, so it is the subject. One part carries the only finite verb. Any part beginning with and, but or or is a continuation and can never come first.

A part ending in to is the strongest clue of all, because it forces a bare infinitive immediately after it. That single link, Q then P, already rules out three of the four options here.

This paper labels the four parts P, Q, O and R, printed in that order, so match the letters carefully when you transfer your order to the options.

Key facts

The completed sentence reads: The power of education empowers individuals to unlock their potential and shape their future.
A part ending in to must be followed by a bare infinitive, which fixes Q before P.
A part opening with and is the second half of a pair and cannot begin the sentence.

Study next

Fixing the subject and the finite verb before testing any option in a jumbled sentenceCoordinators such as and, but and or as position markers in rearrangement itemsParallel infinitive structures of the form to X and Y

Common traps

Ordering the parts by meaning and ignoring the dangling to at the end of (Q)
Missing that the label set here runs P, Q, O, R and mis-transcribing the answer
Letting a sensible-sounding opening phrase override the missing finite verb

SSC prints the same four-part form with the same instruction — and the same P, Q, O, R labels — on 10 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.7. There the and-part sits third of the four, so the coordinator marks a continuation without marking the tail.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Para jumbles — all 66 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.