SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 7 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 ANTONYM to replace the word in brackets. The author's writing was so captivating that readers were [enthralled], while the other book left them completely uninterested.

(a)agreement
(b)interested
(c)intrigued
(d)bored

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Enthralled means held spellbound, completely absorbed. Its opposite is a state in which attention has gone.

The sentence points the direction: the other book left readers 'completely uninterested', and 'while' marks the two clauses as running opposite ways.

Bored is the standard opposite of enthralled and the one that fits the frame 'left them ... bored' — option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
agreement — Agreement is a noun, and the slot needs a word that can describe readers. It is also about consent rather than attention, so it is not an opposite of enthralled.
(b)
interested — Interested is on the same side as enthralled, only weaker. An antonym has to cross to the other side, not step down a degree.
(c)
intrigued — Intrigued means curious and drawn in — a near synonym. It is planted for a reader who stops at the first word that feels connected.

Concept

Contrast-sentence antonym items hand you the direction of the answer inside the sentence itself.

Find the contrast marker — while, but, whereas, unlike — and read the clause on the far side of it. Here 'while the other book left them completely uninterested' fixes the target sense as absence of interest.

Then decide by strength and by part of speech: the answer must be an adjective describing readers, and a genuine opposite rather than a milder version of the same idea.

Two options, 'interested' and 'intrigued', sit on the same side of the scale as the bracketed word. Fixing the direction from the sentence removes both before you weigh their shades.

Key facts

Enthralled = fascinated, held completely absorbed.
Bored = restless and weary from lack of interest, the standard opposite of enthralled.
In a contrast sentence, 'while' signals that the two clauses run in opposite directions.

Study next

Degrees on one side of a scale: interested, intrigued, engrossed, enthralledUsing the contrast marker to fix the required sense before reading any option

Common traps

Picking 'intrigued' or 'interested' because both concern attention
Ignoring part of speech and taking the noun 'agreement'

The bracketed-word antonym is a standing format. On 17 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.14 the bracket holds [stale] and the key is 'fresh', and on 12 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.9 it holds (witty) and the key is 'unamusing'.

The same paper also runs the sentence form at English Q.4 (access, keyed Denial) and Q.12 (high, keyed Low), and the bare-word form at Q.17 (Profuse, keyed Scarce).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.