SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 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.

Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. One who looks at the bright side of things/situations

(a)Optimist
(b)Saint
(c)Scientist
(d)Pessimist

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The definition is 'one who looks at the bright side of things', which is the dictionary sense of optimist — a person who expects the favourable outcome.

'One who' asks for a person-noun, and option (a) is a person-noun that carries the whole definition rather than a part of it.

No qualifier is left over: outlook, and a hopeful one, is all the phrase contains.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Saint — A saint is defined by holiness or exceptional goodness, not by expecting good outcomes. A gloomy person can still be virtuous, so the two ideas are independent.
(c)
Scientist — A scientist is named for a field of work. Nothing in the definition mentions study, method or evidence.
(d)
Pessimist — Pessimist is the exact opposite — one who looks at the dark side. It is the standard bait planted whenever 'optimist' is the answer.

Concept

One-word substitution rewards a match with the whole definition, not with a word that merely overlaps it.

'One who...' signals a person-noun, which clears abstract nouns and adjectives off the list before meaning is weighed at all.

Optimist and pessimist are a fixed pair, and here both stand in the options, so the deciding word in the stem is 'bright'.

The stem writes 'things/situations' with a slash, which is the setter's shorthand for a single idea rather than a distinction you have to resolve. It changes nothing about the answer.

Key facts

Optimist = a person who expects good outcomes and sees the favourable side of a situation.
Pessimist = a person who expects the worst, or sees the dark side.
'One who...' calls for a noun naming a person, which narrows the list before meaning is considered.

Study next

Person-nouns for outlook and temperament: optimist, pessimist, cynic, scepticOne-word substitutes for people defined by an activity, such as dilettante and philanthropist

Common traps

Reading only 'looks at the ... side of things' and reaching for 'Pessimist'
Treating 'saint' as a general-purpose word for a good person

SSC runs the same pair from the other end. On 17 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.15 the stem is 'a person who is inclined to see the worst aspect of things' and the key is 'Pessimist'.

On 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.13 the stem is 'one who tends to look at the dark side of things'.

In both, 'Optimist' sits in the option list as the bait. The same paper asks another one-word substitution at English Q.18, keyed 'Dilettante'.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.