SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 1 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 6 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.

Identify the INCORRECTLY spelt word in the following sentence and select its correct spelling from the given options. I receieved a parcel in the mail today.

(a)recieved
(b)recived
(c)receaved
(d)received

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The misspelt word in the sentence is receieved, which has an extra e wedged into the stem.

The rule that governs it is i before e except after c: after a c, English writes ei, so the letters run r-e-c-ei-v-e-d.

The whole -ceive family obeys it — receive, deceive, conceive, perceive — so option (d), received, is the correct spelling.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
recieved — Puts ie straight after the c, which is the commonest misspelling of this word. After c the pair is ei, so the two vowels are the wrong way round.
(b)
recived — recived drops a vowel from the -ceive stem and leaves a bare i. No verb in that family spells the stem with one vowel.
(c)
receaved — Substitutes ea for the ei pair. There is no -ceave stem in English: receive, deceive, conceive and perceive all take -ceive.

Concept

A spelling item hands you one sentence with one deliberately mangled word and four spellings of it, only one of which is right.

The trap word belongs to the -ceive family, taken from Latin recipere through French. Every member spells the stem the same way: receive, deceive, conceive, perceive.

The i before e except after c jingle covers exactly these words and is unreliable outside them — weird, seize and foreign all break it. Learn the -ceive list as a list and treat the rhyme as a reminder.

The stem asks for the correct spelling, not for the wrong word. Read the four options as replacements for receieved, not as a spot-the-error list, or you will look for the misspelling among them and find it in option (a).

Key facts

The -ceive verbs all spell the stem alike: receive, deceive, conceive, perceive.
After c the digraph is ei, not ie — receive, ceiling, deceit.
The i-before-e rhyme is a guide and not a law: weird, seize and foreign break it.
The noun of receive is receipt, which keeps a silent p from Latin recipere.

Study next

The -ceive and -cede word families (receive, deceive, recede, concede)Consonant doubling before -ed (occurred, referred, preferred)Silent letters in exam spellings (receipt, subtle, mischievous)

Common traps

Reading the sentence for sense and never noticing the extra e in receieved.
Marking the misspelt word from the sentence instead of choosing its corrected spelling.
Applying i before e blindly to words such as seize, where no c precedes the pair.

SSC sets a spelling item in almost every shift, sometimes inside a sentence as here and sometimes as four bare words. The same shift asks it again at English Q.10 (Mischievious), and 9 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.6 (Abismal) and 9 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.12 (Relevent) are the bare-word form.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.