SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 23 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 21 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 most suitable option to replace the highlighted part of the sentence: He is one of those students who has never cheated.

(a)have never been cheating
(b)have never cheated
(c)had never cheated
(d)have ever cheated

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The trigger is who. A relative pronoun takes its number from the noun it refers back to, and here that noun is students, not one.

The clause picks out a group, those students who have never cheated, and says he is one of them. Plural students needs the plural have.

The main clause is present (He is), so the present perfect stays: have never cheated → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
have never been cheating — Never been cheating gets the plural right but is unidiomatic. A record of never having done something takes the simple present perfect, have never cheated. The continuous suggests an activity stretched over a period.
(c)
had never cheated — Had never cheated is past perfect, which needs an earlier past point to reach back from. The main clause He is sets the sentence in the present, so there is none.
(d)
have ever cheated — Ever replaces never and reverses the sense. The sentence ranks him among students who have not cheated, and without never it would place him among those who have.

Concept

The pattern is one of + plural noun + who/that + verb. The relative clause belongs to the plural noun: it defines a group, and the sentence then says he is one member of it.

So the verb agrees with students and is plural: have.

The singular has tempts because he and one are both singular. The verb does go singular after the only one of, because then the clause describes the one person: He is the only one of the students who has never cheated.

Key facts

In one of + plural noun + who/that, the verb in the clause agrees with the plural noun: one of those students who have.
After the only one of, the verb goes singular: the only one of the students who has.
A relative pronoun (who, which, that) has no number of its own and takes that of its antecedent.

Study next

Subject-verb agreement with relative pronounsOne of + plural noun as the subject: One of the boys is absentNever and ever in negative and affirmative clauses

Common traps

Letting he or one decide the verb, when who looks back to students
Mixing up One of the students is absent, where one is the subject, with one of the students who are, where the clause describes the students

This item highlights the verb of the relative clause and offers it back with the number and tense varied. Settle the antecedent of who first, then check the tense against the main clause.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Sentence improvement — all 133 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.