Although students are advised to take the course in their sophomore year, most students are juniors and seniors. They [I ?] had better basic communication skills, including the use of an open style of questioning and responding to verbal cues. Further studies have produced strong evidence that communication skills can be learned and retained. I'm anxious ["eager" is the preferred word for this usage] to know the end result/final result. The agreement is the end product/end result of many years of negotiation. For Americans, French simply cannot count as a foreign language. It is used to introduce a special case within the scope of the topic in the first clause. Many people are not willing to have only one child, especially when that child is a girl. I like the country, especially in spring. Noise is unpleasant, especially when you're trying to sleep. Although somewhat “incomplete”, “inconsistent”, and relatively narrow in terms of its ideological scope, this compendium had the virtue of “not deviating from the path of rectitude”. [<--- This usage of quotes strongly suggests you are directly quoting someone else's exact words.]