SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 18 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 7 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 correct one-word substitution for: ‘A person who is excessively concerned with minor details’.

(a)Critic
(b)Grammarian
(c)Scholar
(d)Pedant

Answer

Why

Correct — D. A pedant is a person overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.

The stem's definition, excessively concerned with minor details, is the pedant's defining trait. The excess is built into the word: a pedant fusses over details that do not matter → option (d).

The adjective is pedantic, and the habit is pedantry.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Critic — Critic is a person who judges merit or finds fault. Nothing in the word says the concern is excessive, or that it is about minor details.
(b)
Grammarian — Grammarian is an expert in grammar. A pedant may fuss over grammar, but a grammarian's knowledge is a field of study, not an excessive fixation on details.
(c)
Scholar — Scholar is a learned person, a specialist in a field of study. Learning is a strength here, with no suggestion of fussing over trivial points.

Concept

A one-word substitution item hands you a definition and asks for the word. Match every part of it, not just the topic.

This definition has two parts: concern with minor details, and concern that is excessive. Critic, Grammarian and Scholar all describe people who work with judgement or learning, but none carries the excess.

Pedant carries both, and it is a criticism, not a compliment.

Pedant once meant simply a teacher or schoolmaster. It came into English through French from Italian pedante. That sense is now archaic, and the sense of fussy over-correctness is the one in use.

Key facts

A pedant is a person overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.
The adjective is pedantic, and the habit is pedantry.
Pedant came into English through French from Italian pedante, 'teacher, schoolmaster'.
A grammarian is an expert in grammar, a neutral word with no sense of excess.

Study next

Near-synonyms of pedant, such as nitpicker, stickler and hair-splitterPerson nouns in one-word substitution, such as misanthrope, cynic and impostorThe adjective pedantic in synonym and antonym items

Common traps

Picking Grammarian because pedants are pictured correcting grammar, when the definition says nothing about grammar
Picking Critic because it involves finding fault, while missing the words excessively and minor in the definition

Pedantic appears as a wrong option at 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.20, where creative is keyed Innovative.

The same person-defined format appears at 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.7: A person who pretends to be what he is not, keyed Impostor.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: One-word substitution — all 91 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.