SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 25 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 15 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.

Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. A performer’s first public appearance

(a)Foundation
(b)Premise
(c)Dawn
(d)Debut

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The clue carries three elements — a performer, a first appearance, and a public one — and the answer has to satisfy all three.

Debut does: it is the first public appearance of a performer, and by extension of anything shown publicly for the first time. A singer's debut, an actor's debut.

Of the four options only debut names an appearance at all; the rest name a base, a proposition or a time of day. That is option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Foundation — Foundation is the base a structure rests on, or the act of establishing an institution. It does name a beginning, but of a building or a body, and it is never used of a performer stepping on stage.
(b)
Premise — Premise is a statement an argument starts from, and in the plural, premises, it means a building and its grounds. It is a starting point in logic, not in a career.
(c)
Dawn — Dawn is daybreak, and figuratively the beginning of a period, as in the dawn of civilisation. It marks the start of an era, not one person's first performance.

Concept

One-word substitution rewards matching every element of the clue, not its general drift.

Break the clue into its parts before you look at the options. Here they are: whose appearance (a performer), which appearance (the first), and of what kind (public).

Three options satisfy only the idea of a beginning, which is why the clue names a performer at all — that element is what debut alone carries.

Debut came into English from French, and it keeps its French look, which is what makes it feel like the odd option out.

It works as both noun and verb: a band's debut, and the band debuts on Friday.

Key facts

Debut is a performer's first public appearance, and the word works as both a noun and a verb.
Debut entered English from French, where it means a beginning or first appearance.
Premises, in the plural, means a building together with the land it stands on.
Dawn names the first light of day and, figuratively, the beginning of a period.

Study next

One-word substitutes for firsts: debut, maiden, inaugural, nascentLoanwords that keep a foreign spelling: debut, rendezvous, liaison, connoisseurBreaking a definition clue into elements before scanning the options

Common traps

Choosing Dawn because the clue contains the word first
Reading Premise as the place where a performance happens, by confusing it with premises
Ignoring performer, which is the element only debut satisfies

SSC writes the clue as a dictionary definition and seeds the options with words that satisfy one fragment of it, usually the idea of a beginning.

One-word substitution is also asked in this paper at English Q.16, where the clue is a verb phrase and the answer therefore has to be a verb.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.