Bootstrapping means using what you know to assist in what you don't.

Bootstrapping means using what you know to assist in what you don't.

• A. Repeating heard words
• B. Memorizing lists
• C. Using knowledge to infer unknowns
• D. Naming actions

Answer: (C)

Bootstrapping is about using what you already know to figure out something you don’t yet know. In language learning, that means taking familiar words, grammar, and contexts and applying them to infer new information—like guessing the meaning of a new word, or how a new sentence fits with what you already know about how language works. For example, if you’ve heard that adding -s marks third-person singular or that a sentence in a certain structure usually describes an action, you can use that knowledge to infer how a new word functions or what a new sentence means, even if you haven’t heard it before. Similarly, if you know that a particular sentence pattern often signals an action being performed, you can infer that a new verb in that pattern is an action word. This is what makes that option the best match: it explicitly describes using existing knowledge to infer unknowns. Repeating heard words is just imitation, not inference. Memorizing lists relies on memorization rather than using knowledge to deduce new information. Naming actions is labeling, not using knowledge to figure something out.

Bootstrapping is about using what you already know to figure out something you don’t yet know. In language learning, that means taking familiar words, grammar, and contexts and applying them to infer new information—like guessing the meaning of a new word, or how a new sentence fits with what you already know about how language works. For example, if you’ve heard that adding -s marks third-person singular or that a sentence in a certain structure usually describes an action, you can use that knowledge to infer how a new word functions or what a new sentence means, even if you haven’t heard it before. Similarly, if you know that a particular sentence pattern often signals an action being performed, you can infer that a new verb in that pattern is an action word.

This is what makes that option the best match: it explicitly describes using existing knowledge to infer unknowns. Repeating heard words is just imitation, not inference. Memorizing lists relies on memorization rather than using knowledge to deduce new information. Naming actions is labeling, not using knowledge to figure something out.