SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 25 September 2024, Shift 3 · 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.

Read the sentence carefully and select the ANTONYM of the underlined word from the given options. I heard his suggestion but I am quite unsure about the risks involved in it.

(a)Interested
(b)Certain
(c)Doubtful
(d)Thoughtful

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Unsure means not confident, not knowing — the speaker cannot say what the risks are.

Its opposite is the state of knowing without doubt: certain. 'I am quite certain about the risks involved' reverses the line exactly, which is what an antonym has to do.

The prefix confirms it. Take un- off unsure and you are left with sure, and certain is the plain synonym of sure — option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Interested — Interested is about attention, not confidence. Its own opposite is uninterested, and nothing in the sentence turns on how much the speaker cares.
(c)
Doubtful — Doubtful is a synonym of unsure, not its opposite. An antonym set that also holds a synonym is testing whether you read the instruction word, printed here in capitals as ANTONYM.
(d)
Thoughtful — Thoughtful means considerate of others, or given to reflection. Its opposite is thoughtless, and neither pole has anything to do with being sure.

Concept

An antonym item is settled in two moves.

First, read the instruction word. This stem prints ANTONYM in capitals precisely because a synonym of the tested word is sitting in the options.

Second, take the prefix off. Unsure is un- plus sure, so the opposite is simply sure — and the list offers its synonym, certain.

Then check the scale. An opposite must measure the same thing: unsure and certain both measure confidence, while interested measures attention and thoughtful measures consideration, so neither can be an opposite of unsure however positive it sounds.

The instruction is printed in capitals — select the ANTONYM — and that capitalisation is the item's only warning that a synonym is planted among the options.

Key facts

Unsure means not confident or not knowing, and certain means free from doubt.
Doubtful is a synonym of unsure, not an antonym of it.
The opposite of interested is uninterested, and the opposite of thoughtful is thoughtless.

Study next

Negative prefixes as a route to the opposite: un-, in-, dis-Checking that a candidate antonym sits on the same scale as the wordConfidence words: certain, convinced, positive, doubtful, dubious

Common traps

Marking Doubtful, the synonym, after skimming past the capitalised ANTONYM.
Choosing Thoughtful because it feels like the opposite of a careless frame of mind.
Testing the options against 'risks' rather than against the underlined word, unsure.

'Certain' is also keyed to an antonym item at 13 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.18, where the word in bold is 'ambiguous'.

SSC builds the same item on verbs at 09 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.20 (allay, keyed aggravate) and 17 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.9 (abolish, keyed establish).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.