SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 24 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 14 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.

Select the correct option: The chief engineer recommended replacing the obsolete part ___ than repairing it.

(a)rather
(b)as
(c)other
(d)more

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The trigger is than after the blank, with an action on each side: replacing the part and repairing it.

The engineer chooses one action instead of the other. That preference is expressed by rather than, which links matching forms: replacing ... rather than repairing.

So: recommended replacing the obsolete part rather than repairing it → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
as — as does not combine with than. It pairs with a second as, as in 'as soon as' or 'as well as', so 'as than' is not English.
(c)
other — Other than means except or apart from, as in 'no option other than replacement'. The engineer is not making an exception; he is preferring one action to another.
(d)
more — More than compares degree. 'Replacing more than repairing' would mean he recommended both, replacement more strongly, when the sentence offers one action instead of the other.

Concept

Rather than sets one choice against another and means 'instead of'. It joins matching forms: two -ing forms (replacing rather than repairing), two nouns (tea rather than coffee), two infinitives (to walk rather than drive).

More than and less than compare amounts or degrees. Other than marks an exception.

So in a blank before than, ask what the sentence does: prefer, compare or except. Here it prefers.

Recommend is followed by an -ing form here, recommended replacing, and rather than keeps the second action in the same form: repairing.

Key facts

Rather than: instead of, used to state a preference.
Rather than joins matching forms: replacing rather than repairing, tea rather than coffee.
Other than: except or apart from, as in 'nobody other than her'.
As pairs with a second as in comparisons of equality: as strong as, as quickly as.

Study next

Would rather ... than with the bare infinitive: I would rather walk than drivePrefer ... to and prefer ... rather thanMatching forms after linking pairs: rather than, as well as, not only ... but also

Common traps

Choosing more on the reflex that than needs a comparative before it. Rather than is a connective of its own, and only it means instead of.
Choosing other because other than is a familiar phrase, without checking that it means except, not instead of.

A blank before than, with rather among the options, is also asked at 12 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.9 and 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.8. There the sentence compares degree (more complicated than expected, more than insightful), so more is keyed.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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