SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 6 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 most appropriate meaning of the underlined idiom. The company understood that these small protests of employees regarding low wages were just the tip of the iceberg.

(a)A small, noticeable part of a problem, the total size of which is really much greater
(b)A small, noticeable part of a problem, the total size of which is solvable
(c)A large part of a problem which is really noticeable
(d)A small, noticeable part of a problem, the total size of which is non-existent

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The tip of the iceberg is the small visible part of a problem whose real extent is far larger and still hidden.

The sentence supplies that reading: the protests are called small, and they are what the company has understood so far, which implies more underneath.

Option (a) keeps both halves of the idiom — a small, noticeable part, and a total that is much greater.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
A small, noticeable part of a problem, the total size of which is solvable — This swaps the idiom's point for a judgement about whether the problem can be fixed. Solvable says nothing about hidden size, which is the whole of the metaphor.
(c)
A large part of a problem which is really noticeable — This reverses the picture. The tip is the small part on show, so an idiom about a large and obvious problem would defeat the reason for saying 'tip' at all.
(d)
A small, noticeable part of a problem, the total size of which is non-existent — Non-existent empties the idiom. If nothing lies below the surface the phrase has no work to do, and the iceberg image depends on a large hidden mass.

Concept

Idiom-meaning options in CGL are usually built by editing the correct gloss at a single point, so read them against each other rather than one at a time.

Here three options share the opening 'a small, noticeable part of a problem' and differ only in the tail: greater, solvable, non-existent. The tail is the question.

The tip of the iceberg always carries the claim that the unseen part is the bigger part, so only the first tail survives.

The sentence gives you a usable clue — the protests are described as small and as an early sign — so you can fix the sense before looking at the options.

Key facts

Tip of the iceberg = the small visible portion of a much larger hidden problem.
Ice floats with roughly nine-tenths of its volume below the waterline, which is the picture the idiom borrows.
The phrase is used of a problem expected to grow, not of one already settled.

Study next

Idioms that turn on scale, such as 'a drop in the ocean'Reading a set of idiom options for the one clause where they differ

Common traps

Choosing an option because its first half matches, without comparing the tails
Reading 'tip' as 'peak' and concluding the problem is at its worst

SSC also prints idioms bare and asks what they mean: 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.10 gives to read between the lines on its own, and 13 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.20 gives turned a deaf ear to, keyed Disregarded.

Here the idiom is embedded in a sentence, which hands you a context clue the bare form withholds.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.