Question

Mary and her younger brother, Eric, are playing in the front yard. Eric has mastered correct grammar in English, but he displays overregularization when he says, ________________. a. "Ball me pass to play!" b. "Water now!" c. "Mary! I forgetted to feed my pet worms!" d. "We need to play outside and not watch TV!"

Short answer

The short answer is (c) "Mary! I forgetted to feed my pet worms!"

Step-by-step solution

Understand overregularization

Overregularization refers to the application of grammar rules even in cases where an irregular form should be used. Often seen in children, overregularization can lead to errors in verb conjugations, plurals, and other forms.

Analyze each sentence

Go through each of the given options and identify if any sentence has an overregularization error: a. "Ball me pass to play!" - This sentence has incorrect word order, but does not display overregularization. b. "Water now!" - This sentence is a command, which is structurally correct and does not display overregularization. c. "Mary! I forgetted to feed my pet worms!" - In this sentence, "forgetted" is an incorrect past tense form of the verb "forget" due to overregularization of the past tense rule. The correct sentence should be, "Mary! I forgot to feed my pet worms!" d. "We need to play outside and not watch TV!" - This sentence is grammatically correct and does not display overregularization.

Identify the correct answer

Based on the analysis of each sentence, we can conclude that the sentence with overregularization is the option (c) "Mary! I forgetted to feed my pet worms!"

Key concepts

Child Language Development

Child language development is a fascinating journey that every child undergoes as they learn to communicate. During this process, children gradually acquire the language skills necessary to express themselves and understand others.
The language development process begins early in life, often through listening and mimicking the speech they hear around them.
Children typically pass through several stages as they acquire language. During the early stages, they might use single words or simple phrases. Once they reach the toddler years, they start forming more complex sentences.
This is when overregularization, a common phenomenon, often occurs. It's a natural part of language learning, as children apply regular grammatical rules to words that are exceptions, such as saying "goed" instead of "went."
Parents and educators play a crucial role in language development. By providing a language-rich environment and offering corrections in a supportive manner, adults can significantly influence a child's communication skills.

• Reading books together
• Engaging in conversation
• Encouraging them to express thoughts

All these activities can foster language growth in children.

Grammar Rules

Grammar rules are the backbone of any language, providing structure and consistency. They help speakers construct sentences that convey clear meaning. In the English language, these rules cover various aspects such as sentence structure, verb conjugation, plurals, and punctuation.
Understanding grammar is essential for effective communication.
For children, mastering these rules can be both challenging and exciting. In their early learning years, kids often display a remarkable ability to pick up these rules simply by hearing language in use. However, they may also over-apply them, as seen in overregularization.
For instance, a child might learn that adding "-ed" to a verb forms its past tense. Applying this rule, they might say "runned" instead of "ran".
This illustrates their understanding of grammar, even while making a mistake. It's interesting to note that despite these errors, the child's language skills are still advancing.

• Promotes language understanding
• Encourages creativity through language
• Builds the foundation for reading and writing

Verb Conjugation Errors

Verb conjugation errors are quite common in the stages of language acquisition among children. These errors occur when the rules for changing verbs to match tense, mood, or voice are incorrectly applied.
Often, these are due to overregularization – applying a standard rule to an irregular verb.
For example, children may say "comed" instead of "came" or "breaked" instead of "broke." While these errors might seem incorrect, they actually signify a child's developing understanding of language rules.
This shows that the child is actively trying to apply learned grammar rules especially verb conjugation rules to their speech.
Addressing these errors requires patience and guidance. Typically, simple correction strategies, like repeating the sentence with the correct form, can help.
This allows the child to hear and eventually absorb the correct conjugation patterns.

• Typically seen in "-ed" for past tense
• Shows progression in language learning
• Correctable with practice and exposure

While children will naturally outgrow most of these errors, supportive interaction can help speed up the process.