Humans are more efficient at acquiring language skills than are animals, and interpreting the meaning of non verbal gestures.
A. Humans are more efficient at acquiring language skills than are animals
B. Humans are more efficient at acquiring language skills than animals
C. Humans are more efficient than animals at acquiring language skills
D. Humans, more efficient at acquiring language skills than animals
E. Humans acquire language skills more efficiently than animals
This question is based on Comparison and Parallelism.
The sentence makes a comparison between humans and animals on the basis of their ability to acquire language skills and interpret the meaning of non-verbal gestures.
Since the basis of comparison is their ability to do two things, these two things must be parallel in form.
In Option A, the comparison is parallel, but only on the basis of one thing - acquiring language skills. The other basis of comparison – interpreting the meaning of non-verbal gestures – is left hanging at the end of the sentence without a subject. So, Option A can be eliminated.
Option B conveys the meaning that humans are more efficient at acquiring language skills they are at acquiring animals. Without the verb ‘are’, after the noun ‘animals’, the meaning is distorted. So, Option B can be eliminated.
Option D is only a sentence fragment. It is made up of a subject and two phrases. There is no verb to complete the sentence. So, Option D can be eliminated.
Option E lacks parallelism. To maintain parallelism the sentence must be as follows - Humans acquire language skills more efficiently than animals and interpret the meaning of non verbal gestures better than animals do. So, Option E can be eliminated.
In Option C, the comparison is appropriately drawn between humans and animals. This option also maintains parallelism. The participles ‘acquiring’ and ‘interpreting’ are parallel in form. Therefore, C is the most appropriate option.