Phychologist

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SmarpanGamt: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 203; Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:08 am; Thanked: 6 times

by SmarpanGamt » Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:16 pm

Psychologist: Although studies of young children have revealed important facts about the influence of the environment on language acquisition, it is clear that one cannot attribute such acquisition solely to environmental influences: innate mechanisms also play a role. So, the most reasonable question that ought to be studied is whether _____________.

Which one of the following most logically completes
the passage?
(A) language acquisition can ever be fully explained
(B) innate mechanisms are a contributing factor in language learning
(C) language acquisition is solely the product of innate mechanisms
(D) parents and peers are the most important influence on a child's learning of a language
(E) innate mechanisms play a more important role in language acquisition than a child's immediate environment

please explain

OA is E and my pick was B

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:16 pm

shovan85: Community Manager; Posts: 991; Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:19 amFollowed by: 24 members; Location: Bangalore, India; Thanked: 146 times

by shovan85 » Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:49 pm

IMO E

I had a confusion between A and E

The premises says Environmental factors have influence. Along with that inborn quality of the child matters.

Options B,C and D can be discarded as

(B) this is mentioned in the premises.
(C) undermines the environmental factors
(D) supports only environmental factors

Rest two option address both of the factors but
(A) questions the whole concept of language acquisition
where as
(E) tries to find out which one plays more vital role.

Obviously we cannot question the whole process as some facts (such as environmental, and innate mechanisms) have been revealed from studies but the factors contributing to the process.

Go with E

diebeatsthegmat: Legendary Member; Posts: 1119; Joined: Fri May 07, 2010 8:50 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 29 times

by diebeatsthegmat » Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:14 pm

SmarpanGamt wrote:Psychologist: Although studies of young children have revealed important facts about the influence of the environment on language acquisition, it is clear that one cannot attribute such acquisition solely to environmental influences: innate mechanisms also play a role. So, the most reasonable question that ought to be studied is whether _____________.

Which one of the following most logically completes
the passage?
(A) language acquisition can ever be fully explained
(B) innate mechanisms are a contributing factor in language learning
(C) language acquisition is solely the product of innate mechanisms
(D) parents and peers are the most important influence on a child's learning of a language
(E) innate mechanisms play a more important role in language acquisition than a child's immediate environment

please explain

OA is E and my pick was B

i chose E for this CR, i understood it like this
CR says the form of language for kiddos is influenced on both external and internal enviroment. thus the question whether external plays a role in contribution language for kiddos is not enough...
assumption: (maybe) both should be considered...
E does this

rooster: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 44; Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 12:23 am; Thanked: 6 times

by rooster » Sat Oct 16, 2010 10:04 pm

diebeatsthegmat wrote:
SmarpanGamt wrote:Psychologist: Although studies of young children have revealed important facts about the influence of the environment on language acquisition, it is clear that one cannot attribute such acquisition solely to environmental influences: innate mechanisms also play a role. So, the most reasonable question that ought to be studied is whether _____________.

Which one of the following most logically completes
the passage?
(A) language acquisition can ever be fully explained
(B) innate mechanisms are a contributing factor in language learning
(C) language acquisition is solely the product of innate mechanisms
(D) parents and peers are the most important influence on a child's learning of a language
(E) innate mechanisms play a more important role in language acquisition than a child's immediate environment

please explain

OA is E and my pick was B
i chose E for this CR, i understood it like this
CR says the form of language for kiddos is influenced on both external and internal enviroment. thus the question whether external plays a role in contribution language for kiddos is not enough...
assumption: (maybe) both should be considered...
E does this

Ahh, I see. I was initially thinking A since I read E as an actual answer.

I think the key for this one is that you need to remember to add the "whether" that is initially in the question, thus it would read "...the question is whether... innate mechanisms play a more important role in language acquisition than a child's immediate environment"

I only read the answer choices without matching them to the sentence, so E initially sounded weird to me, leaving me with the initial choiceï¼¡ï¼Žï¼Žï¼Ž doh..

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