SSC CPO Mains Grammar Mock 1

SSC CPO Mains & CGL 2026 Advanced English Grammar Mock Test

Prepare for the SSC CGL 2026 and SSC CPO Mains (Paper II) with this high-level English Grammar Mock Test. The English comprehension section can make or break your final merit list ranking. This carefully curated 50 question quiz targets moderate to advanced grammatical concepts, testing your mettle against tricky rules that often confuse candidates.

This test features 20 Spotting the Error questions (including lengthy, complex sentences), 20 Sentence Improvement questions, and 10 Fill in the Blanks. We have specifically included rare concepts like the Subjunctive Mood, Inversions, Dangling Participles, and advanced Subject-Verb Agreement.

Take the test, evaluate your score, and critically important scroll down to the Detailed Study Guide & Concept Explanations at the bottom to understand the grammatical reasoning behind every single answer.

Grammar Rules & Detailed Explanations (Study Guide)

Welcome to the most important part of your preparation. Review these detailed grammatical explanations for all 50 questions to ensure you never make these mistakes in your actual SSC exam.

Part 1: Spotting the Error (Rules & Concepts)

Q1: Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Phrases: “The newly appointed CEO, along with his entire team… are planning…”
Rule: When subjects are joined by “along with”, “together with”, “as well as”, or “in addition to”, the verb must agree with the FIRST subject. The CEO is singular, so “are” should be “is”.

Q2: Past Perfect Conditional (Type 3): “Had the municipal corporation taken… the city would not have been flooded…”
Rule: The structure “Had + Subject + V3, Subject + would have + V3” is entirely correct for unfulfilled conditions in the past. There is No Error.

Q3: Inversion and Correlative Conjunctions: “Scarcely had the principal finished… than the students began…”
Rule: “Scarcely” and “Hardly” are always followed by “when”, not “than”. (“No sooner” is followed by “than”). Error is in Part B.

Q4: The Subjunctive Mood (Tricky/Rare): “The investigating officer recommended that the prime suspect… is kept…”
Rule: Verbs of demand, recommendation, or suggestion (recommend, insist, mandate) take a “that” clause with the base form of the verb (subjunctive), regardless of the subject. “is kept” should be “be kept”. Error is in Part B.

Q5: Pronoun Antecedent & Prepositional Phrases: “Neither of the board members who were present in the meeting have given…”
Rule: “Neither of” takes a plural noun/pronoun but a SINGULAR verb. The correct verb is “has given”. Error is in Part B.

Q6: Dangling Participle: “Walking through the dense forest during the midnight safari, a poisonous snake bit him.”
Rule: A participle phrase must logically modify the subject of the main clause. This sentence implies the snake was walking. It should be: “While he was walking… a snake bit him.” Error in Part C.

Q7: Tense Sequencing in Complex Sentences: “By the time the rescue team arrived at the collapsed mining site, three of the trapped miners already suffocated…”
Rule: When two actions happen in the past, the earlier action takes the Past Perfect (had + V3). It should be “had already suffocated”. Error in Part C.

Q8: Parallelism in Lists: “The new software not only increases processing speed but also improving overall security.”
Rule: Correlative conjunctions (not only… but also) must connect grammatically identical elements. “increases” (verb) must pair with “improves” (verb), not “improving”. Error in Part C.

Q9: Conditional (Type 1): “Unless the government does not take immediate steps…”
Rule: “Unless” inherently means “if not”. It is a negative word. Using “does not” after unless creates a double negative. It should be “Unless the government takes…”. Error in Part A.

Q10: Noun Clause as Subject: “Why the brilliant scientist resigned from the prestigious space agency remain a mystery…”
Rule: The entire clause “Why the brilliant scientist resigned…” acts as a single, singular subject. The verb must be singular: “remains”. Error in Part C.

Q11 to Q20 (Moderate Errors):
11. Superior than -> Superior to (Words ending in -ior take ‘to’).
12. One of the boy -> One of the boys (Noun after ‘one of’ is always plural).
13. Informations -> Information (Uncountable noun, no plural ‘s’).
14. Return back -> Return (Superfluous/Redundant, return already means to come back).
15. Older than me -> Older than I (Comparison should be between nominative cases).
16. I and he -> He and I (Rule of 231 for good acts: Second person, Third person, First person).
17. Furnitures -> Furniture (Uncountable noun).
18. Did not went -> Did not go (‘Did’ is always followed by V1).
19. Since three hours -> For three hours (Period of time takes ‘for’, point of time takes ‘since’).
20. A honest -> An honest (Vowel sound takes ‘an’).

Part 2: Sentence Improvement Explanations

Q21: Looking forward to meet -> Looking forward to meeting. The phrase “look forward to” is followed by a gerund (V1+ing).

Q22: Prefer coffee than tea -> Prefer coffee to tea. ‘Prefer’ is always followed by ‘to’.

Q23: Hardly I stepped out -> Hardly had I stepped out. Sentences starting with negative adverbs require inversion (helping verb before subject).

Q24: Used to playing -> Used to play. (Past habit). *Note: ‘is used to playing’ is correct, but bare ‘used to’ takes V1.

Q25: Would have helped… if I knew -> If I had known. Third conditional requires Past Perfect in the ‘if’ clause.

Q26: He is working here for five years -> He has been working. Action started in past and continuing requires Present Perfect Continuous.

Q27: Avail of the opportunity -> Avail himself of. ‘Avail’ is a reflexive verb and requires a reflexive pronoun.

Q28: Despite of -> Despite. ‘Despite’ never takes ‘of’. (‘In spite of’ is correct).

Q29: The two first chapters -> The first two chapters. Ordinal numbers (first) come before cardinal numbers (two).

Q30: No sooner did the bell rang -> No sooner did the bell ring. ‘Did’ is followed by V1.

Q31: Prevented me to go -> Prevented me from going. Prevent takes ‘from’ + gerund.

Q32: Lest you will fail -> Lest you should fail. The conjunction ‘lest’ is always followed by ‘should’.

Q33: It is high time you start -> It is high time you started. ‘It is high time’ is followed by the Past Simple tense.

Q34: Each of the boys have -> Each of the boys has. ‘Each of’ takes a plural noun but a singular verb.

Q35: Neither he nor his friends is -> Neither he nor his friends are. In ‘neither…nor’, the verb agrees with the nearest subject (friends).

Q36: Scenery of Kashmir are -> Scenery of Kashmir is. Scenery is an uncountable singular noun.

Q37: As if he is -> As if he were. Unfulfilled condition/imagination requires ‘were’ for all subjects.

Q38: Cope up with -> Cope with. ‘Cope up with’ is slang/incorrect English. It is always ‘cope with’.

Q39: Acquitted from -> Acquitted of. The fixed preposition for acquit is ‘of’.

Q40: A coward man -> A coward. ‘Coward’ is a noun. ‘Cowardly’ is an adjective. ‘Coward man’ is redundant.

Part 3: Fill in the Blanks Concepts

Q41: Comply with: The correct fixed preposition is “comply with” the rules.

Q42: Abide by: The fixed preposition for abiding is “by” the decision.

Q43: Let alone: Used to emphasize that something is even more impossible than the first thing mentioned. (Cannot walk, let alone run).

Q44: None vs Neither: For more than two people/things (five brothers), use “None”. For two, use “Neither”.

Q45: Need not have: Indicates an action was done in the past but it was unnecessary. (Need not have bought the umbrella).

Q46: Beside vs Besides: “Besides” means in addition to. “Beside” means next to. (Besides being a doctor, he is a writer).

Q47: Made of vs Made from: “Made of” is used when the material doesn’t change form (table made of wood). “Made from” is used when the material changes entirely (paper made from wood).

Q48: Little vs A little: “Little” means almost nothing (negative). “A little” means some (positive). If there is hope, it is “a little hope”.

Q49: Since vs For: “Since” is used for a specific point in time (since 2010). “For” is used for a duration (for ten years).

Q50: Part with vs Part from: You part “from” a person, but you part “with” a thing (part with his money).