SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 18 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.

Select the most appropriate homophone to fill in the blank. He has the ________ to express his thoughts.

(a)write
(b)ride
(c)rite
(d)right

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The blank sits between the determiner the and the infinitive to express, so it must be filled by a noun that can take an infinitive after it.

Right is that noun: a right to something is an entitlement, and "the right to express his thoughts" is the ordinary English phrase for freedom of speech.

Write, right and rite sound identical, so your ear settles nothing here — word class and sense do. Option (d) is the key.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
write — Write is a verb, not a noun, so it cannot follow the determiner the. Sound alone would let it in, and that is exactly the trap a homophone set is built on.
(b)
ride — Ride only looks close: it ends in a d sound, not the t of right, write and rite. As a noun it means a journey, which leaves "the ride to express his thoughts" with no sense.
(c)
rite — Rite is a true homophone and a noun, so it passes both tests the blank sets. But a rite is a ceremonial or religious act, and nobody has a rite to express thoughts.

Concept

Homophones are words that sound the same but differ in spelling and meaning. Right, write and rite are the classic set, and a near-miss like ride is added to widen the trap.

Two filters decide a homophone blank. Word class first: the frame "the ______ to express" admits only a noun. Sense second: of the nouns left, only right carries the meaning of an entitlement.

Right also collocates with an infinitive — the right to vote, the right to know — which is the pattern this sentence reproduces.

The sentence offers no other clue: no tense to check, no agreement, no punctuation. The item is settled entirely by which word can stand after a determiner and take an infinitive.

Key facts

Right, write and rite are homophones: identical in sound, different in spelling and meaning.
A right is an entitlement and takes an infinitive after it, as in the right to vote.
A rite is a ceremonial or religious act, as in the last rites.
Ride is a near-homophone rather than a true one, because it ends in a d sound.

Study next

Common homophone pairs in English, such as stationary and stationery, principal and principle.Determiner-plus-noun-plus-infinitive frames: the ability to, the freedom to, the right to.Look-alike adjective pairs, tested at English Q.19 of this shift with industrious and industrial.

Common traps

Choosing by sound alone, which cannot separate right, write and rite.
Reading right only as the opposite of left or of wrong, and so ruling it out as a noun.

A homophone blank gives four words that sound alike or nearly alike and a slot whose word class is already fixed by the words around it.

The same shift tests a look-alike adjective pair at English Q.19, industrious against industrial (9 Sep 2024, 16:00).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.