Since I was young, I always understood that evolution taught that we descended from monkeys (or apes, not too sure a distinction was ever made). However, someone recently told me that this isn't correct, and that we actually share a common ancestor, but not a direct line of evolution.
Can anyone clarify which approach (if either) is correct?
Assuming the latter is correct, doesn't it raise problems of missing fossils? If we descended from monkeys, there is less of a gap to fill, but if we share a common ancestor, we would need to fill a much bigger gap, right the way back to the point where our family trees diverged.
As I said, I don't know much about this, and find most of the online material too technical to understand. If anyone could explain this in simple terms, I would be very grateful.