SAT OwlLinguists have observed that languages spoken by small, isolated communities often have more complex grammar, such as many verb endings, than languages spoken by large populations that include many adult learners. Adults learning a new language tend to drop difficult grammatical features, and when many speakers are adult learners, these simplifications can spread. If this explanation is correct, a language that recently spread rapidly among adult traders would likely ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
develop more verb endings than it had before.
become restricted to a small, isolated community.
show some loss of complex grammatical features.
be learned mainly by children rather than by adults.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C
According to the explanation, adult learners drop difficult features, and those simplifications spread when adult learners are numerous. A language spreading quickly among adult traders fits that situation, so it should lose some complex grammar, as choice C says.
Choice A predicts the opposite outcome; added complexity is linked to small, isolated communities, not to rapid spread among adults.
Got it wrong? On SAT Owl, Owl looks at the answer you chose and explains the exact mistake, then gives you similar questions until it sticks. Get your predicted SAT score free.