Question:
According to the passage, complexity of language cannot be taught by parents or at school to children because
According to the passage, complexity of language cannot be taught by parents or at school to children because
Show Hint
The author treats language as an instinct, like web-spinning in spiders. Ask which option states that cause, not just a result.
Updated On: Nov 4, 2026
- language is not amenable to teaching.
- children learn the language on their own.
- children instinctively know language.
- children know language better than their teachers or parents.
- children are born with the knowledge of semiotics.
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The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Identify the author’s main claim.
The author calls language an “instinct”: children know how to talk in the sense that spiders know how to spin webs. The complexity of language “is part of our biological birthright; it is not something that parents teach their children or something that must be elaborated in school”.
Step 2: Match the reason.
Since children have the knowledge by instinct, there is nothing for parents or schools to teach. This is option (3).
Step 3: Eliminate.
(2) Learning on their own contradicts the idea of instinct; the passage says language is not learned the way we learn to tell time.
(1) “Language is not amenable to teaching” is not the author’s reason; the author never says teaching is impossible because of the nature of language, but because the ability is innate.
(4) The passage says a preschooler’s knowledge of grammar is more sophisticated than style manuals, not than that of teachers and parents.
(5) Semiotics is the subject the passage says a three-year-old is incompetent at.
Final Answer:
The correct option is (3): children instinctively know language.
The author calls language an “instinct”: children know how to talk in the sense that spiders know how to spin webs. The complexity of language “is part of our biological birthright; it is not something that parents teach their children or something that must be elaborated in school”.
Step 2: Match the reason.
Since children have the knowledge by instinct, there is nothing for parents or schools to teach. This is option (3).
Step 3: Eliminate.
(2) Learning on their own contradicts the idea of instinct; the passage says language is not learned the way we learn to tell time.
(1) “Language is not amenable to teaching” is not the author’s reason; the author never says teaching is impossible because of the nature of language, but because the ability is innate.
(4) The passage says a preschooler’s knowledge of grammar is more sophisticated than style manuals, not than that of teachers and parents.
(5) Semiotics is the subject the passage says a three-year-old is incompetent at.
Final Answer:
The correct option is (3): children instinctively know language.
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