SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 21 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.

Choose the most suitable option to replace the highlighted part of the sentence: Neither the manager nor the employees was available.

(a)was not available
(b)were also available
(c)were available
(d)was also not available

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The trigger is neither … nor. When it joins two subjects, the verb agrees with the one nearer to it.

Nearer subject: the employees, plural
Verb: was → were

Neither the manager nor the employees were available → option (c)

Why the others are wrong

(a)
was not available — Double negative, and still singular. Neither … nor already makes the sentence negative, so adding "not" reverses it. "Was" also still disagrees with the plural "employees".
(b)
were also available — "Also" has nothing to add to. The plural verb is right, but also means "in addition to something already said", and nothing earlier in the sentence is available. The sentence needs plain "were available".
(d)
was also not available — Three faults at once. "Was" disagrees with the nearer subject, "employees"; "not" doubles the negative neither … nor already carries; and "also" adds to nothing.

Concept

Proximity rule. When neither … nor (or either … or) joins two subjects, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it.

Neither the manager nor the employees were available.
Neither the employees nor the manager was available.

Both are correct: the verb changed because the nearer subject changed. Neither … nor is already negative, so the verb takes no "not".

Not the "as well as" rule. With as well as, along with or together with, the verb follows the first subject instead: "The manager, as well as the employees, was available."

Key facts

Neither … nor, either … or: the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
Not only … but also follows the same nearer-subject rule.
As well as, along with, together with: the verb agrees with the first subject.

Study next

Agreement with either … or and not only … but alsoAgreement with as well as, along with and together withDouble negatives with neither, nor, hardly and scarcely

Common traps

Making the verb singular because "neither of them" is traditionally singular. With neither … nor, the nearer subject decides.
Adding "not" to a neither … nor sentence, which doubles the negative.

13 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.9 keys were after "Neither the editor nor the contributors", and 22 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.16 marks "has submitted" wrong after "Neither the manager nor the employees".

13 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.11 runs the rule the other way: the nearer subject is "the estimation of deficit trends", headed by singular "estimation", so its plural "appear" is the error.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Sentence improvement — all 133 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.