SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 24 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 13 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 article: She aspires to become _____ UN envoy for climate affairs.

(a)an
(b)a
(c)the
(d)no article

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The noun after the blank is a named post: UN envoy for climate affairs.

The phrase for climate affairs ties the envoy to one portfolio, a single post the reader can identify. A post identified that way is marked with the, as in 'the Chief Justice of India'.

So: She aspires to become the UN envoy for climate affairs → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
an — UN is said letter by letter, 'you-en', so it begins with a y sound, a consonant sound. A or an follows sound, not spelling, so an never fits: compare a university, a union.
(b)
a — a is the right indefinite form before UN, but it makes the post one of several envoys. The phrase for climate affairs names one particular post, so the key takes the.
(d)
no article — No article leaves envoy, a singular countable noun, bare. English can drop the article before a unique post after appoint or become ('was appointed UN envoy'), but the key does not take that reading.

Concept

An article blank asks two separate questions.

Which form: a or an depends on the first sound of the next word, not its first letter. UN is spoken 'you-en', so its indefinite form is a.

Definite or not: the marks a thing the reader can identify, such as a unique post named by its portfolio. For climate affairs names one post, so the key takes the.

This item is softer than it looks. A UN envoy is grammatical if several such envoys exist, and the zero-article pattern for unique posts is real English. The key reads the post as one specific office, which the marks. An is wrong on any reading.

Key facts

A or an follows the first sound: a UN official, a university, an hour, an MBA.
The marks something the reader can identify: the Chief Justice of India, the capital of France.
A unique post after become, elect or appoint can take no article: He was elected President.

Study next

A or an before abbreviations: a UNESCO site, an MLA, an FIRArticles with titles and posts: the President, but was elected President

Common traps

Choosing an because UN begins with the vowel letter U. It is said 'you', a consonant sound.
Treating a and the as interchangeable here. A makes the post one of many, the makes it one named office.

A noun pinned down by the words after it takes the at 17 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.5, where 'the intellectual and moral solidarity of humankind' corrects an, and at 24 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.7, keyed The, the for a poem named by its title and a poet named by his name.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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