SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 10 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. Study of flying airplanes

(a)Astronomy
(b)Alchemy
(c)Aviation
(d)Acoustics

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The defining element in the phrase is flying airplanes, so the answer has to be the word whose subject matter is aircraft.

Aviation is that word: it covers the flying and operating of aircraft. None of the other three has anything to do with a machine that flies, which settles option (c).

Gloss each word before comparing. All four begin with A and all four sound learned, and that resemblance is the whole difficulty of the item.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Astronomy — Astronomy is the study of celestial objects — stars, planets, galaxies. It shares the upward look of flight but studies the sky itself, not machines moving through it.
(b)
Alchemy — Alchemy was the medieval forerunner of chemistry, chiefly the attempt to turn base metals into gold. It has no aircraft sense at all, and is in the set for its A.
(d)
Acoustics — Acoustics is the branch of physics dealing with sound — how it is produced, carried and heard. Aircraft can be studied acoustically, but the phrase asks about flying, not about sound.

Concept

One-word substitution is decided by the defining element of the phrase, not by its general flavour. Underline the noun that carries the subject matter — here, airplanes — and ask which single word owns it.

The second habit is glossing. Write a one-line meaning against each option before you compare, because option sets built on a shared first letter are designed to be confused at a glance.

Once the four are glossed, three of them turn out to study the sky, metals and sound, and the item is over.

The stem's wording is loose. Aviation is properly the practice of flying and operating aircraft, while aeronautics is the science of flight. Aeronautics is not offered, so aviation is the intended fit.

Key facts

Aviation is the flying and operation of aircraft.
Aeronautics names the science of flight, aviation the practice of it.
Astronomy is the study of celestial objects beyond the earth's atmosphere.
Acoustics is the branch of physics that deals with sound.

Study next

One-word substitutes for fields of study, such as seismology, ornithology and entomologyThe phobia and mania families, such as claustrophobia, agoraphobia and dipsomaniaNear-neighbour disciplines that get confused, such as astronomy and astrology

Common traps

Reading 'study of' as a demand for a word ending in -logy and rejecting aviation on that ground
Choosing astronomy because both words suggest the sky
Sorting the options by their shared initial letter instead of by meaning

SSC gives the group of words with no sentence around it, and builds the option set from words that share a first letter or a suffix, so the gloss decides the item and the sound does not.

The same frame appears at 10 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.9 (a place where fruit trees are grown, Orchard) and at 10 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.12 (fear of closed spaces, Claustrophobia).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.