SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 20 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 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.

We doubt SSC's key on this question.

Option (d), for fear of falling, is also grammatical and means the same as the highlighted lest-clause ('He walked slowly for fear of falling'), so the item has two defensible replacements; this card follows SSC's key, which marks lest he fall.

The answer below is still the option SSC's key marks, and we solve to that option.

Choose the most suitable option to replace the highlighted part of the sentence: He walked slowly lest he should fall.

(a)in order to not fall
(b)so that he may not fall
(c)lest he fall
(d)for fear of falling

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The trigger is lest, meaning for fear that. It carries its own negative, and the verb after it normally takes one of two forms: should + base verb, or the bare base verb, the subjunctive.

The highlighted lest he should fall uses the first form. Lest he fall is the second — fall, not falls, even after he — and means the same.

It is the one option that keeps lest in a correctly formed clause → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
in order to not fall — The conventional negative infinitive puts not before to: in order not to fall. This version splits it, and it also drops the lest-clause the sentence is built on.
(b)
so that he may not fall — After the past tense walked, a so that purpose clause takes might, not may: so that he might not fall. May goes with a present main verb, as in he walks slowly so that he may not fall.
(d)
for fear of falling — For fear of falling is sound English: He walked slowly for fear of falling means the same. Nothing in the sentence rules it out. The key marks lest he fall, and this card follows the key.

Concept

Lest is a subordinating conjunction meaning for fear that, or so that ... not. The negative is built in, so no not follows it.

After lest, standard English uses should + base verb (lest he should fall) or the present subjunctive, the bare base form for every subject (lest he fall, lest she be late).

The subjunctive is why the keyed form reads fall and not falls: it takes no -s after he.

The highlighted lest he should fall is itself standard English, and SSC keyed the same should-form as the correction at 18 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.7.

There is no No-improvement option, so a replacement must be picked. For fear of falling is as grammatical as the keyed lest he fall. The key marks lest he fall, and this card follows it; see the dispute note.

Key facts

Lest means for fear that and is negative in itself, so no not follows it.
After lest, use should + base verb or the bare subjunctive: lest he should fall, lest he fall.
After a past main verb, a so that purpose clause takes might rather than may.
The conventional negative infinitive places not before to: in order not to fall.

Study next

The present subjunctive after lest and after verbs of demand: insist that he be presentSequence of tenses in purpose clauses: so that with may or mightNegative infinitives: not to, in order not to, so as not to

Common traps

Rejecting lest he fall because fall looks wrong after he — it is the subjunctive, which takes no -s.
Choosing so that he may not fall, which sounds formal but puts may after the past tense walked.
Adding not inside a lest-clause: lest he should not fall says the opposite of what is meant.

18 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.7 tests lest from the other side: 'Rohan exercised and ate a lot, lest he should not be weak' is corrected to lest he should be weak, dropping the surplus not.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Sentence improvement — all 98 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.