Jen was concerned when her 4-year-old son,Anthony,started saying,"I eated dinner." Jen should not worry because Anthony is simply:
A)learning how to fast map.
B)confusing the deep structure with the simple structure of the sentence.
C)experiencing a momentary episode of dysphasia.
D)overgeneralizing from the grammatical language rules.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Anthony is overgeneralizing from the grammatical language rules, which is common for young children who are learning language. He may have learned the regular pattern of adding "-ed" to make a past-tense verb, and applied it to the irregular verb "eat." This is a normal part of language development and should not be a cause for concern.

Jen Was Concerned When Her 4-Year-Old Son,Anthony,started Saying,"I Eated Dinner