SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 19 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 of the given word. Insert

(a)Remove
(b)Select
(c)Inject
(d)Inform

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Insert is a directional verb: to put something into or between other things.

An antonym has to reverse that direction, not merely change the subject matter. Taking the thing back out is remove → option (a).

Insert and remove are the standard pair for putting in and taking out, which is why the stem prints ANTONYM in capitals — the list also holds a word pointing the same way as insert.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Select — Select means to choose. Its own opposite is reject, and choosing carries none of the in-or-out direction that insert is built on.
(c)
Inject — Inject means to force something in. That is insert's direction, not its reverse, so it is a near-synonym dressed up as an antonym by the shared in- opening.
(d)
Inform — Inform means to tell. It matches the first two letters of insert and nothing else — no part of its meaning touches putting in or taking out.

Concept

Antonym items reward direction, not topic. A large family of English verbs comes in pairs describing one action run two ways: insert and remove, admit and expel, import and export.

Once you see the headword is directional, test each option by asking which way it points. An option pointing the same way is a synonym in disguise, however different it looks.

The prefix in- does two separate jobs. In insert, inject and inhale it means 'into'. In inactive and incapable it means 'not'. Only the second kind builds an opposite.

Two of the four options, Inject and Inform, open with the same in- as the headword. Matching letters is the fastest way to get this item wrong.

Key facts

Insert means to place something inside or between, so its direct opposites are remove, extract and withdraw.
Inject means to force a fluid or substance in, which is the same inward direction as insert.
The in- of insert and inject means 'into', while the in- of inactive means 'not'.
The opposite of select is reject, not insert.

Study next

Directional verb pairs: insert and remove, admit and expel, import and exportPrefix in- meaning 'into' versus in- meaning 'not', and how to tell which one a word carriesAntonyms of process verbs such as assemble and dismantle, or attach and detach

Common traps

Picking Inject because it looks like insert, when the shared prefix marks the same direction an antonym has to reverse.
Skimming the stem and solving for a synonym, although ANTONYM is printed in capitals.
Settling for a word that is merely unrelated, when an antonym must be actively opposite.

Single-word antonym and synonym prompts sit next to each other in this block — English Q.20 asks for a synonym outright, and English Q.11 asks for an antonym inside a sentence ('active' → inert).

English Q.7 of the same shift asks for the opposite of an underlined word, 'taboo'.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.