Quote:
2/The primary purpose of the passage is to
A discuss how a common misconception has affected the development of a school of thought
B call into question the findings of a study and describe ways to improve the study
C describe how an explanation does not adequately account for an observed phenomenon
D introduce two theories and illustrate how neither is able to fully explain an occurrence
E reveal the inconsistencies in two theories and propose a new theory to account for an aptitude
The first sentence describes a common interpretation: language is learned through imitation. The rest of the passage describes how, “Children do imitate…but little of their grammatical ability can be explained in this way.” Therefore, this explanation cannot account for the way children learn languages. Therefore (C).
(A) is incorrect. While the passage does describe a common misconception (language is learned via imitation), the passage never talks about how this misconception actually affected the development of any one school of thought.
(B) is incorrect because no specific study is mentioned in the passage.
(C) The answer. The "explanation" is the popular view, which cannot adequately explain the two pieces of evidence discussed in the second paragraph.
(D) is incorrect. Sure the passage mentions two theories. But one of them, according to the passage, fully explains language acquisition.
(E) is incorrect because no third theory is proposed.