SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 5 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 correct meaning of idiom: Toe the line

(a)Follow the leader physically
(b)Join the military
(c)Obey rules or authority exactly
(d)Oppose popular opinion

Answer

Why

Correct — C. To toe the line is to accept the rules or authority of a group and do exactly what is expected, often unwillingly.

The picture is of standing with your toes precisely on a marked line: not over it, not behind it.

'Obey rules or authority exactly' carries both the obedience and the exactness → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Follow the leader physically — Follow the leader physically is the literal misreading. The idiom is figurative: you toe the line by complying with rules, not by walking behind anyone.
(b)
Join the military — Join the military mistakes a picture of standing on a line for enlisting. An employee or a party member can toe the line without joining anything.
(d)
Oppose popular opinion — Oppose popular opinion runs the other way. Toeing the line means conforming; refusing to go along with your group is closer to breaking ranks.

Concept

Toe the line is an idiom of conformity, and it usually carries a note of pressure: people toe the line because authority requires it, often against their own inclination.

In politics it becomes toe the party line, to follow a party's official position without dissent.

The spelling is toe, as in the foot. 'Tow the line', as in pulling, is a misspelling.

Where the phrase comes from is disputed, with sporting and naval explanations both in circulation. Learn the meaning, not a story about its origin.

Key facts

Toe the line means to accept the rules or authority of a group, often unwillingly.
Toe the party line means to follow a party's official position without dissent.
The correct spelling is toe the line, not tow the line.

Study next

Conformity idioms: fall in line, follow suit, play by the rulesDissent idioms: break ranks, rock the boat

Common traps

Taking the literal image of feet on a line as the meaning and picking follow the leader physically.
Writing tow the line, which is a misspelling.

The idiom is set bare, with four short paraphrases, one of which is a literal reading of the image.

Carry coals to Newcastle, at English Q.4 of this shift, is asked in the same form.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Idioms and phrases — all 97 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.