SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 4 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.

Parts of the following sentence have been given as options. Select the option that contains an error. The tea at this café is best than at the Costa Café in our office.

(a)in our office
(b)at the Costa Café
(c)The tea at this café
(d)is best than

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The faulty segment is is best than, which mixes two different degrees of comparison.

than compares exactly two things and can only follow a comparative form: better than, larger than.

best is the superlative. It ranks one item above a whole field and takes the, with in or of after it — the best tea in the office. Two cafés are being compared here, so the segment has to read is better than, and option (d) is the part that contains the error.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
in our office — in our office is an ordinary prepositional phrase fixing where the other café is. Nothing in it changes when the comparison is repaired.
(b)
at the Costa Café — at the Costa Café matches at this café on the other side of the comparison, so the two things being compared are parallel and the phrase stands.
(c)
The tea at this café — The tea is a singular subject and correctly takes is, with the modifier at this café sitting after it. The fault lies in the comparison word, not in this segment.

Concept

English grades adjectives in three degrees: positive (good), comparative (better), superlative (best).

How many things are in play decides which you use. Two items take the comparative with than. Three or more, or one item against the whole field, take the superlative with the.

good is irregular — good, better, best — so a candidate who would never write more good still writes is best than. The word than is the signal: it can only follow a comparative.

A spot-the-error item gives four segments and plants exactly one fault. Repair the sentence in your head before you read the options, so that you are matching a fix you already have rather than hunting for something odd.

Key facts

than follows a comparative form only: better than, larger than, more useful than.
The superlative takes the and is completed by in or of, as in the best tea in the office.
good, better, best is irregular, so the comparative is never formed with more.

Study next

Double comparatives and double superlatives (more better, most fastest)Comparatives that take to rather than than (superior, inferior, senior, prior)Parallel structure across the two halves of a comparison

Common traps

Reading quickly and accepting is best than because the meaning is clear anyway.
Marking The tea at this café wrong on a false subject-verb doubt.
Repairing the segment to more better, which stacks two comparatives.

The planted fault is a single grammatical form inside one segment, most often agreement, tense or degree. The same shift sets an agreement version at English Q.20 (I are dancing) and a substitute-the-segment version at Q.14 (Each participant have).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.