SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 18 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 6 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.

Choose the correctly spelt word for Expression of mild disapproval

(a)Expostulation
(b)Expossulation
(c)Expostelation
(d)Expostullation

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Expostulation, an earnest protest, is spelt e-x-p-o-s-t-u-l-a-t-i-o-n.

Split it into parts: ex + postul + ation. The middle is the root of postulate, from Latin postulare, 'to demand'. Keep postulate's letters, s-t-u-l, with one s and one l → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Expossulation — Expossulation replaces the t with a second s. The root is postul-, as in postulate, so the letters after the o run s-t, not s-s.
(c)
Expostelation — Expostelation changes the u to an e. Postulate has a u after the t, and expostulation keeps it.
(d)
Expostullation — Expostullation doubles the l. The root postul- has a single l, as in postulate and postulation.

Concept

A spelling item on a long word is easiest to crack by splitting it into parts you can already spell.

Expostulation is ex- ('from') plus Latin postulare, 'to demand', the root of postulate, plus the noun ending -ation. Spell postulate right and the rest follows.

The verb is expostulate: to protest, or to reason earnestly with someone about their conduct.

The stem glosses the word as mild disapproval. Dictionary definitions describe earnest remonstrance, reasoning with someone to dissuade them, which is stronger than mild. The item tests spelling, so the key is unaffected.

Key facts

Expostulation keeps the letters of postulate in its middle: -postul-.
Expostulate means to protest, or to reason earnestly with someone about their conduct.
It comes from Latin expostulare, from ex, 'from', and postulare, 'to demand'.

Study next

Near-synonyms of expostulation, such as remonstrance, protest and objectionWords built on Latin postulare, such as postulate and postulationSpelling -ation nouns from their verbs, such as expostulate and expostulation

Common traps

Doubling the l, as in Expostullation, when postulate has a single l
Hearing the unstressed u as an e and writing Expostelation

The spell-it-from-its-meaning format also appears at 21 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.12, where 'to erase or wipe out' is keyed Expunge, another ex- word.

17 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.5 asks it for 'a statement of beliefs', keyed Creed.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Spelling — all 84 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.