Which term refers to knowledge of language that learners understand but cannot produce?

• A. Passive knowledge
• B. Derived words
• C. Roots
• D. Global error

Answer: (A)

In language learning, you often know more than you can say. Passive knowledge is the understanding of language forms and meanings that you can recognize when you hear or read, but cannot actively produce in speech or writing. This distinction matters because receptive skills (listening and reading) tap into what you understand, while productive skills (speaking and writing) tap into what you can produce. People frequently have well-developed passive knowledge early on; they can comprehend a sentence or identify correct grammar without being able to reproduce that exact form themselves.

For the given question, passive knowledge is the best fit because it specifically describes knowledge that learners understand but cannot produce. The other terms refer to different concepts: derived words are about creating new words from base forms, roots are the basic morphemes that form words, and global error is a type of error affecting overall meaning or structure in a text, not a knowledge state.