Fill in the Blanks
About 5 min · English Language · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 292 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
Fill in the Blanks (FIB) tests your vocabulary, grammar and ability to understand sentence context in SSC CHSL Tier 1. These questions appear in both single-blank and double-blank formats.
Key ideas
- Contextual meaning over isolated meaning — The blank must fit the sentence's overall meaning, not just match a dictionary definition. A word like "bright" could mean intelligent or luminous depending on context.
- Tone and sentiment matching — Identify if the sentence expresses praise, criticism, neutrality or contrast. Words like "however," "although," "despite" signal a shift in tone requiring an opposite-sentiment word.
- Grammatical compatibility — The filled word must match in tense (past/present/future), number (singular/plural), part of speech (noun/verb/adjective), and voice (active/passive).
- Collocation awareness — Certain words pair naturally in English: "make a decision" not "do a decision," "strong tea" not "powerful tea." Familiarity with common word partnerships eliminates wrong options quickly.
- Elimination strategy — In double-blank questions, eliminate options where even one word doesn't fit. Often only one option will have both words making sense simultaneously.
Quick reference
- Read the entire sentence before looking at options — context is everything.
- Transition words (however, because, although) are golden clues for tone and logic.
- In double-blank questions, eliminate any option where even one word fails.
- Common collocations beat isolated word meanings — "stringent measures," not "powerful measures."
- Match tense, number and part of speech — grammatical compatibility is non-negotiable.
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. The committee members expressed their ______ views on the new policy, making it difficult to reach a consensus.
2. Despite facing numerous ______, the research team remained ______ and completed the project on time.
3. The speaker's ______ remarks about the cultural traditions of the community were met with strong disapproval from the audience.
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 18 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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