SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 13 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 7 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 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.

Select the correct option: The analyst found the correlation to be ___ marginal to influence policy.

(a)too
(b)very
(c)so
(d)as

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The trigger is the infinitive after the adjective: ___ marginal to influence policy.

Too + adjective + to-infinitive means 'so much that the action cannot happen'. Too marginal to influence policy says the correlation was so slight that it could not shape policy.

Of the four words, too is the one that completes this frame by itself → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
very — Very only intensifies: very marginal means extremely small. Marginal takes no to-infinitive of its own, so 'very marginal to influence policy' leaves the infinitive with nothing to attach to.
(c)
so — So needs its own partner: so marginal that it could not influence policy, or so marginal as to be ignored. 'So marginal to influence' has neither that nor as.
(d)
as — As opens a comparison, as marginal as something else, and no second as follows. 'As marginal to influence policy' is left incomplete.

Concept

Too before an adjective means 'more than is acceptable or possible'. Followed by a to-infinitive, it gives a negative result: too tired to walk means unable to walk.

The sentence contains no not, yet its meaning is negative. Too marginal to influence policy means the correlation could not influence policy.

Marginal here means small and of little importance. Each degree word brings its own closer: too … to, so … that, so … as to, as … as.

Some adjectives take a to-infinitive by themselves, as in hard to say or eager to help, and there 'very hard to say' is fine. Marginal is not one of them, which is why very fails in this sentence.

Key facts

Too + adjective + to-infinitive means so much that the action cannot happen.
So + adjective takes a that-clause, or as + to-infinitive, as in so weak as to be useless.
As + adjective needs a second as to complete a comparison.
Marginal means small and of minor importance.

Study next

Degree frames: too … to, so … that, so … as to and enough toToo … to against enough … to, as in too weak to lift and strong enough to liftAdjectives that take a to-infinitive by themselves, such as easy, hard and eager

Common traps

Picking very because it sounds natural before marginal, without checking what the to-infinitive needs
Reading too … to as positive and concluding that the correlation did influence policy

Here the paper gives one sentence with the blank before an adjective, marginal, and four short words as options.

Too as an adverb of degree is also keyed at 23 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.15, a homophone item in 'The summer was ______ hot this year', with to, tow and two as the wrong spellings.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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