Sentence Correction

Researchers have explored the possibility that dolphins are able to be trained to communicate as humans.

A) are able to be trained to communicate as humans

B) were able to be trained to communicate like humans

C) can be trained to communicate like humans can

D) could be trained to communicate as humans

E) are capable of being trained to communicate as humans do

Source : Kaplan test

My guess is "C, " although this is a very clunky sentence in general, since it uses passive voice. By process of elimination, A and D do not work, since dolphins will never be human, therefore will never communicate "as humans." Option "E" corrects this problem with "as humans do," however does so with a glaring verb mismatch "capable to being trained." this leaves two independently gramatically viable options, B and C. If the first part of the sentence did not say "have explored" and merelly put it in the active past tense ("explored"), then "B" could be argued as the best option by placing the second half in the past "were able"). However, since the first part of the sentence uses the present passive voice ("have explored"), it is better to use the present passive voice for the second half, or "can be trained." This places both statements in parallell.

IMO the none of the options look good enough....

A) are able to be trained to communicate as humans
as is used to introduce clause......

B) were able to be trained to communicate like humans
Past tense.

C) can be trained to communicate like humans can
like is used to show similarity between nouns....not actions.

D) could be trained to communicate as humans
Past tense. + as is used to introduce clause......

E) are capable to being trained to communicate as humans do
breaks the idiom "capable of"

sorry Bryant and Mohit, there was a typo in the above question. Corrected it now..
Choice E should read "capable of" rather than "capable to"..
Was typing very fast..didn't realize :roll:

Then I think the answer should be "E".....

IMO E

Eliminate A, B - tense errors.
Eliminate C - 'like' is incorrect here.
Eliminate D - communicate as humans? Are the dolphins trying to communicate being human? False.

This leaves us with E.

This is confusing. option E tells me that dolphins are capable of being trained to communicate like humans do. i.e. dolphins can communicate like humans. So will they be able to talk/gesture etc?
Option C tells me that dolphins can be trained to communicate like humans can be trained to communicate i.e. the way we train ourselves to communicate (imagine a mom teaching a kid how to say mama)
I dont know I am thinking too much for this one so I will just go with C.

Researchers have explored the possibility that dolphins are able to be trained to communicate as humans.

A) are able to be trained to communicate as humans
compares communicate with humans

B) were able to be trained to communicate like humans
past

C) can be trained to communicate like humans can
double can

D) could be trained to communicate as humans
compares communicate with humans

E) are capable of being trained to communicate as humans do
compares dolphin communication with human communication

My answer: E

@rahulg83 what's the OE please?

OA is E

Yes with that change, answer would switch to 'E'