Normal levels of skills ________ speaking.

Normal levels of skills ________ speaking.

• A. like
• B. in
• C. at
• D. for

Answer: (A)

Think about how to introduce an example of a kind of skill. When you want to mention one of the kinds of skills you’re talking about, you often use like to point to a typical example: skills like speaking. Here the idea is to show what kind of skills are being referred to, with speaking as a representative example. Using in would sound off because it would push toward a field or area of expertise and doesn’t fit with the plural noun skills in this structure. At and for don’t express the idea of listing an example at all. So the natural choice is like, giving the sense “skills such as speaking.”

Think about how to introduce an example of a kind of skill. When you want to mention one of the kinds of skills you’re talking about, you often use like to point to a typical example: skills like speaking. Here the idea is to show what kind of skills are being referred to, with speaking as a representative example. Using in would sound off because it would push toward a field or area of expertise and doesn’t fit with the plural noun skills in this structure. At and for don’t express the idea of listing an example at all. So the natural choice is like, giving the sense “skills such as speaking.”