SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 25 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 5 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.

The following sentence contains a word with a spelling error. Rectify the sentence by selecting the correct spelling of the identified word from the given options. Later on, he was truely apologetic for his misconduct in the meeting.

(a)Truily
(b)Trooly
(c)Truly
(d)Treuly

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The misspelt word in the sentence is truely, and the correct form is truly.

True ends in a silent -e. When -ly is added to it, that -e is dropped: true becomes truly.

The same drop happens in due to duly and whole to wholly, while most adjectives keep the -e — nice to nicely, brave to bravely, sure to surely.

The sentence should read: Later on, he was truly apologetic for his misconduct in the meeting. That is option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Truily — Truily replaces the silent -e of true with an i. The rule drops that -e and puts nothing in its place, which is how truly is formed.
(b)
Trooly — Trooly respells the vowel phonetically as oo. English writes that sound as -ue in true, and the spelling of the base word is what carries into the adverb.
(d)
Treuly — Treuly reverses the vowel pair to eu. The base word is spelt t-r-u-e, so no adverb built on it can open with tre-.

Concept

Adding -ly to an adjective that ends in a silent -e keeps the -e in the great majority of cases: nice to nicely, brave to bravely, extreme to extremely.

A short list of words breaks that pattern and drops the -e: true to truly, due to duly, whole to wholly.

SSC tests the exceptions rather than the rule, so the small list is the one worth memorising. All four options here mishandle the same silent -e in different ways, which is the tell that the -e is the point of the question.

The paper prints the error in place — truely — and asks for the corrected spelling, so you are not hunting for the faulty word. You are respelling a word already pointed out to you.

Key facts

True drops its silent -e before -ly, giving truly.
Due drops its -e in the same way, giving duly.
Whole gives wholly, dropping the -e before the -ly ending.
Most adjectives ending in a silent -e keep it before -ly, as in nicely, bravely and extremely.

Study next

Spelling rules for adding -ly, -ing and -ed to words that end in a silent -eConsonant doubling before a suffix, as in begin and beginningCommonly misspelt adverbs such as truly, duly, wholly and publicly

Common traps

Carrying the keep-the-e rule over from nicely and bravely and writing truely, which is the error already in the sentence.
Choosing a phonetic respelling such as Trooly because it matches how the word sounds.

SSC prints this rectify-the-sentence frame with the wrong spelling left standing in the sentence. At 11 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.4 upstaires must be corrected to Upstairs, and at 10 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.17 the word to fix is Descendant.

The bare four-option version, with no sentence around it, tests the same knowledge — English Q.6 of 25 Sep 2024, 09:00 asks it of Exhilaration.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.