SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 20 September 2025, Shift 1 · 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 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 spelling for a word meaning 'basic or fundamental'.

(a)Rudimentry
(b)Rudimentary
(c)Rudementary
(d)Rudamentary

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The word meaning basic or fundamental is rudimentary: the noun rudiment plus the suffix -ary.

Build it in two parts:
rudiment = r-u-d-i-m-e-n-t
rudiment + -ary = rudimentary → option (b)

Every part survives the join: i after d, e after m, and the a of -ary.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Rudimentry — Rudimentry drops the a of the suffix -ary. The same suffix keeps its a in elementary and documentary.
(c)
Rudementary — Rudementary puts e after the d. The base word is rudiment, with i, from Latin rudīmentum.
(d)
Rudamentary — Rudamentary puts a after the d. The base word rudiment has an i there, and adding -ary does not change it.

Concept

A spelling item on a long word is easiest by parts. Rudimentary is rudiment, a basic principle, as in the rudiments of grammar, plus the adjective suffix -ary.

Each wrong option damages one part. Two change the vowel after d, e or a for i, and the third drops the a of -ary.

Check the base first. Rudiment goes back to Latin rudīmentum, a first attempt or beginning, and its i stays in the adjective.

Rudimentary has two senses: basic, as in rudimentary knowledge, and at an early, undeveloped stage, as in a rudimentary organ. The item's wording, basic or fundamental, points to the first.

Key facts

Rudimentary means basic or minimal, or at an early, undeveloped stage.
It is formed from the noun rudiment plus the suffix -ary.
Rudiment goes back to Latin rudīmentum, a first attempt or beginning.
The suffix -ary keeps its a in elementary, documentary and rudimentary.

Study next

Adjectives in -ary built on -ment nouns: elementary, sedimentary and complementaryNear synonyms of rudimentary: elementary, basic and fundamental

Common traps

Writing Rudimentry by spelling the word as it is said at speed
Guessing the vowel after d instead of recalling the base word rudiment

The dropped-letter trap is also set at 16 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.5, where Meterology loses the o of the keyed Meteorology, and at 22 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.5, where Rythmic and Rhytmic each lose an h of the keyed Rhythmic.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Spelling — all 118 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.