SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 22 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 14 of 98

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.

Select the correct option: The director objected to the scene, deeming it ___ gratuitous for a family audience.

(a)far
(b)much
(c)too
(d)very

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The trigger is objected together with for a family audience: the director judged the scene more gratuitous than that audience should see.

Too + adjective + for + noun expresses exactly that, excess measured against a limit. Too gratuitous for a family audience means unsuitable for it.

That is the reason for the objection → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
far — Far intensifies comparatives and too: far better, far too gratuitous. Before a plain adjective such as gratuitous it cannot stand alone, so 'far gratuitous' is ungrammatical.
(b)
much — Much likewise modifies comparatives and too: much better, much too gratuitous. 'Much gratuitous' is ungrammatical, because gratuitous here is a plain adjective.
(d)
very — Very gratuitous is grammatical, but very only raises the degree. It does not say the scene crossed a limit, and the objection needs that. Too means more than is acceptable for the audience named.

Concept

Too before an adjective means more than is acceptable or possible. It always implies a limit, and this sentence names it: for a family audience.

Very only means to a high degree. Very gratuitous describes the scene. Too gratuitous for a family audience judges it against its viewers, which is why the director objected.

Gratuitous means uncalled for, lacking good reason, as in gratuitous violence.

Far and much can come before too: far too gratuitous and much too gratuitous are both correct. They strengthen too. They cannot replace it.

Key facts

Too + adjective + for + noun: more than is acceptable for that person or purpose, as in too long for a child.
Too + adjective + to-infinitive: so much that the action cannot happen, as in too tired to walk.
Far and much intensify comparatives and too, as in far better and much too late.
Gratuitous: uncalled for, lacking good reason.

Study next

Degree frames: too … for, too … to, so … that, enough toWhich intensifier goes where: very, far, much, quite

Common traps

Picking very because 'very gratuitous' sounds natural, without asking what 'for a family audience' needs.
Picking far or much from memory of far too and much too, and forgetting that too is the word doing the work.

Too before an adjective is also keyed at 13 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.7, 'too marginal to influence policy', with a to-infinitive where this sentence has a for-phrase.

23 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.14 turns the frame around: 'proved ___ effective that competitors quickly emulated it' is keyed so, because a that-clause follows.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Fill in the blank — all 96 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.