SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 20 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 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Choose the most suitable option to replace the highlighted part of the sentence: She has the reputation to be a kind woman.

(a)to have kindness
(b)of being a kind woman
(c)of being the kind woman
(d)to be kind-hearted

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The trigger is the noun reputation. What someone is known for attaches to it through a preposition — reputation of being, reputation for being, reputation as — not through a to-infinitive, so 'reputation to be' is the fault.

After the preposition of, the verb takes the -ing form: being.

The article stays a: she is known as one kind woman among many, not a particular one already identified → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
to have kindness — Keeps the to-infinitive after reputation, the very pattern that is wrong, and swaps 'a kind woman' for 'kindness' — a change of wording that fixes nothing.
(c)
of being the kind woman — The preposition is right, but the kind woman points to one particular woman already identified. She is known for being a kind woman in general, so the indefinite a is needed.
(d)
to be kind-hearted — Still reputation to be — only the adjective has changed. Swapping kind for kind-hearted leaves the faulty to-infinitive in place.

Concept

Some nouns take a fixed preposition before the thing they are about. Reputation takes of, for or as: 'a reputation for honesty', 'the reputation of being strict', 'a reputation as a scholar'.

A verb placed after of or for normally takes the -ing form — of being, for doing — not a to-infinitive.

The article is a separate check: a + noun describes someone as one of a class, while the singles out an individual already known.

Each option is a complete replacement for to be a kind woman — (b) and (c) carry their own 'kind woman' — so that whole phrase is the part under test.

Key facts

Reputation takes a preposition before what someone is known for: of, for or as.
A verb after the preposition of or for takes the -ing form: 'of being', 'for being'.
The indefinite article a presents someone as one of a class, while the singles out a particular person already identified.

Study next

Noun + preposition pairs: reputation for, fondness for, need forThe -ing form after a preposition: of being, for doing, without askingDefinite and indefinite articles with a descriptive noun phrase

Common traps

Picking 'to be kind-hearted' because it sounds more polished — it keeps the faulty 'to be'.
Accepting 'of being the kind woman' because the preposition is fixed — the article change makes her a specific, already-known woman.

The same preposition + -ing pattern sits in an option of 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.12: 'I am fond of reading science fiction', where reading follows of.

English Q.21 of this shift uses the same replace-the-highlighted-part format, with the fault in the verb pattern after 'advised him'.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Sentence improvement — all 84 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.