SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 25 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.

Rearrange the following sentences to form a meaningful passage: 1. Solar energy is one of the most promising renewable energy sources. 2. It has a minimal environmental impact compared to fossil fuels. 3. Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity. 4. However, energy storage remains a significant challenge for solar energy systems.

(a)2-1-4-3
(b)1-2-4-3
(c)3-2-4-1
(d)4-1-2-3

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The link words decide it.

Sentence 2 opens It, and 'compared to fossil fuels' shows It is an energy source: solar energy, named in sentence 1. So 1 comes before 2.

Sentence 4 opens However, a turn against a point already made: the minimal impact in 2. So 4 follows 2.

1-2-4-3 is the printed order that keeps both links → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
2-1-4-3 — Opens with It has a minimal environmental impact — an It with nothing before it to refer to. The energy source It stands for is introduced in sentence 1.
(c)
3-2-4-1 — Opens with sentence 3 and puts 2 straight after it, so It would point back to Solar panels — plural, and not an energy source to set against fossil fuels. Sentence 1 ends up last.
(d)
4-1-2-3 — Opens with However, a contrast word with nothing before it to contrast. A paragraph cannot begin by turning against a point it has not yet made.

Concept

Paragraph jumbles are solved through link words, not by guessing the story.

A pronoun such as It points back to a noun in an earlier sentence, so its sentence cannot open. A contrast word such as However turns against a point already made, so its sentence cannot open either.

Fix the pairs those words force — here 1 before 2, and 2 before 4 — then find the option that keeps every pair.

Sentence 3 carries no link word, so it is placed by elimination. The options put it only first or last, and the one order that puts it first, 3-2-4-1, breaks the 1-before-2 link.

Key facts

A sentence opening with a back-pointing pronoun such as It or This cannot open a paragraph.
However marks a contrast with a point already made, so it cannot open a paragraph.
In sentence 2, 'compared to fossil fuels' shows that It means an energy source, the solar energy of sentence 1.

Study next

Topic sentences in paragraph jumblesContrast connectors: however, yet, neverthelessPronoun reference chains across sentences

Common traps

Opening with sentence 3 because it reads like a basic definition — sentence 2's It would then point at plural panels.
Trying to place sentence 3 by meaning first — it has no link word, so fix 1-2 and 2-4 first.

The same name-then-It opener decides 19 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.1 (keyed DBCA): D names house sparrows, B follows with "It is one of the most common birds", and the However sentence, A, closes.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Para jumbles — all 121 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.