PPSC English Past Paper 2025 Solved MCQs with Answers

The proverb is 'A stitch in time saves nine': dealing with a problem early saves far more work later.

'Consist in' means to have as its essential quality. 'Consist of' means to be made up of parts.

'Jeer at' means to mock or scoff at someone.

Cloth is kept in a closet as a photo is kept in an album, so the relation is object to its container.

'But' joins two contrasting ideas: the house is large, yet old-fashioned.

The double comparative uses 'the' before each: the higher you climb, the colder it gets.

'Look forward to' is followed by a gerund, so 'to buying' is correct, not 'to buy'.

'Call it a day' means to stop working for the day.

Modest means humble and unassuming, so its opposite is conceited.

Praiseworthy and creditable both mean deserving of praise.

'Depend on' is the fixed preposition for reliance.

The proverb runs 'Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones': do not criticise others for faults you share.

The saying is 'A leopard can't change its spots': people do not change their essential nature.

Modest and humble both describe someone who does not boast.

'Bounce back' means to recover quickly from a setback.

'Wear down' means to exhaust or gradually weaken someone.

Jejune means naive, immature or lacking substance, so its opposite is mature.

Germane means relevant to the matter at hand, so its antonym is irrelevant.

Rubber is characteristically elastic as diamond is characteristically hard: a substance and its defining property.

'A wild goose chase' is a useless or hopeless search.

'It never rains but it pours' means misfortunes tend to arrive together.

'Take to heart' means to be deeply affected by something.

In indirect speech 'said to me' becomes 'told me', the pronoun 'I' becomes 'he', and the present 'accept' shifts to the past 'accepted'.

'Who' here introduces a relative clause describing 'person', so it is a relative pronoun.

The future perfect, 'will have', describes an action completed before a point in the future.

Kneel is irregular: kneel, knelt, knelt.

'Up the ante' means to increase what is at stake or raise the demands.

A sentence that asks a question and ends with a question mark is interrogative.

'Arrive at' is used with a specific place such as a village. 'Arrive in' is used with larger areas such as countries.

Peevish and petulant both mean irritable or sulky.

Voracious means having a huge appetite, hence greedy.

Infallible means incapable of error, that is flawless.

A 'dark horse' is a competitor who wins unexpectedly.

'Run out of' means to have exhausted the supply of something.

'Take off' is the phrasal verb for an aircraft leaving the ground.

Assault means to attack, so its opposite is to defend.

Conjunctions used in pairs, such as either or, neither nor, both and, are called correlative conjunctions.

A judge presides over a court as an umpire presides over the ground: an official and the place of authority.

'Blue blood' refers to noble or royal descent.

'Turn into a pumpkin' means to leave for home and bed, from the Cinderella story where the coach reverts at midnight.

Criteria is the plural of criterion, as data is of datum.

After a preposition such as 'between', a pronoun takes the objective case: between you and me, never between you and I.

'Die of' is used for a disease or internal cause. 'Die from' suits an injury or external cause.

'Blow out' means to extinguish a flame with a puff of air.

The simple present is used for scheduled future events: the train leaves at six.

'Blind by birth' describes a condition present from birth.

Indignation and exasperation both mean anger aroused by something unjust or annoying.

'As smart as she is' is correct: the comparison as … as takes the subjective form of the pronoun with a following verb.

'End up' means to reach a state or place that was not intended.

'Flog a dead horse' means to waste effort on something already settled or hopeless.

'Decide against' means to choose not to do something.

A foe is an enemy, so its antonym is ally.

Here 'enough' modifies the adjective 'lucky', so it functions as an adverb.

A race results in fatigue as fasting results in hunger: cause and its consequence.

'On' is used with a specific day or evening: on a cold evening.

'A cat's paw' is a person used as a tool by another, from the fable of the monkey using the cat's paw to pull chestnuts from the fire.

'The' is the definite article. 'A' and 'an' are indefinite.

A polite imperative in reported speech becomes 'requested', with the verb turned into the infinitive: requested them to be quiet.

The second conditional pairs a past simple in the if clause with 'would' in the main clause: if he studied, he would pass.

'Cut down on' means to reduce the amount of something consumed.

'Make hay while the sun shines' means to seize an opportunity while conditions allow.

In reporting a past simple question the tense moves back one step, so 'did you say' becomes 'I had said', and the word order becomes statement order.

'Collide with' is the fixed preposition for two things striking each other.

A blueprint represents a building as a map represents a location: a plan and the thing it depicts.

A glutton is given to eating as a garrulous person is given to talking: a person and their characteristic act.

Arduous means difficult and demanding, so its opposite is easy.

When 'hardly' begins a sentence the subject and auxiliary invert: hardly had she entered, and it pairs with 'when'.

Jocose means playful and humorous, so its antonym is dull.

A superlative takes the definite article: the longest way.

A judge works in a court as a doctor works in a hospital: a professional and their workplace.

Arbitration is the settling of a dispute, so its opposite is disagreement.

'Hang up' means to end a telephone call by disconnecting.

'Deal in' means to trade in a commodity. 'Deal with' means to handle a matter.

'Freed from' is the correct form for release from danger or captivity.

'Among' is used with more than two, so the singer was popular among thousands.

Inebriate means intoxicated or drunken.

Docility leads to surrender as unrest leads to rebellion: a disposition and the action it produces.

In reported speech the present 'want' shifts to the past 'wanted', and 'I' changes to the reported speaker's pronoun.

A complex sentence has at least two clauses, one independent and one dependent.

Reporting a future question shifts 'will' to 'would' and reverses the word order to that of a statement.

The fixed expression is 'true to your words', meaning to keep a promise.

Ghasibana corresponds to usurpation, the wrongful seizure of what belongs to another.

A mynah is a kind of bird as a terrapin is a kind of turtle: a species and its wider class.

Something occurring after a person's death is posthumous.

'Bear away' means to carry off or win a prize.

Desiderium means a longing for something lost, hence craving.

Frabjous, coined by Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky, means delightful or wonderful.

Sibylline means obscure and prophetic, hence enigmatic, from the Sibyl of ancient prophecy.

Propinquity means nearness in place or relationship, that is closeness.

Velleity is a wish too slight to lead to action, so its opposite is aversion.

Coruscating means sparkling or brilliant, so its opposite is tenebrous, meaning dark and gloomy.

Bluster is loud, aggressive talk, so its opposite is meekness.

Perspicacity is keenness of insight, so its opposite is naivety.

Baroque describes an ornate, highly decorated style, so its opposite is minimalist.

In 'Self-Reliance' Emerson urges the reader to trust their own intuition and individuality rather than conform.