What evidence suggests that 2- or 3-year-old children understand certain grammatical rules?
A)They often ask whether they have phrased something correctly.
B)They frown when they hear an adult say something ungrammatical.
C)They often say something wrong and then correct themselves.
D)Their mistakes show they overgeneralized a rule.

Question

What evidence suggests that 2- or 3-year-old children understand certain grammatical rules?​
A)They often ask whether they have phrased something correctly.
B)​They frown when they hear an adult say something ungrammatical.
C)​They often say something wrong and then correct themselves.
D)​Their mistakes show they overgeneralized a rule.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fact that children overgeneralize a grammatical rule suggests that they understand it to some extent. For example, a child might say "goed" instead of "went" because they have internalized the rule about adding "-ed" to form past tense verbs, but have not yet learned the irregular verb "went." This shows that they have some understanding of the grammatical rule, even though they are not applying it perfectly yet. Options A, B, and C do not necessarily suggest that children understand grammatical rules.

What Evidence Suggests That 2- or 3-Year-Old Children Understand Certain