PART ONE
Directions: This is an experiment on people’s use of language. We would like to know your intuitive reaction to the naturalness of various words seem in various sentences. You will see sets of three sentences. The first sentence will introduce you to a novel verb, one that we have made up for the study. The next two sentences contain the same verb in the past tense, but with a different version of the past-tense form in each sentence. Your task is to rate how natural the verb seems as the past tense of the novel verb, using a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 means ‘very unnatural’ and 7 means ‘very natural.’ For example, most people would judge that the sentence “He came home to Boston” calls for a high rating (around 7), whereas the sentence “He comed home to Boston” calls for a low rating (around 1).

In this example, one version of the past-tense form sounds perfect to most people and the other one sounds terrible. But that need not be true of every verb. For example, to many people, the sentence “She dreamed that she was falling out of a plane” is fairly natural, but so is “She dreamt that she was falling out of a plane.” If that is your reaction for one of the items in the questionnaire, you should give high ratings to both of the test sentences for that item. In other words, you can give a high rating to one verb and a low rating to the other, or vice-versa, or high ratings to both, or low ratings to both, depending on how they strike you.

Please pay attention to the way the new verb is used in the example, and to the way it sounds. We are more interested in how natural the verbs feels to you than in your guess as to what is “proper” or “correct.”

1. Professional golfers can spling a golf club up to 50 miles per hour when teeing off. Of course, when they are putting, they spling the club much more gently.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Yesterday, Tiger Woods broke the record when he splung his club at 60 miles per hour.
b. Yesterday, Tiger Woods broke the record when he splinged his club at 60 miles per hour.
2. Joe was nicknamed the chatterbox because he would keeb incessantly.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. At yesterday’s movie, he annoyed many people when he keb non-stop for the entire length of the film.
b. At yesterday’s movie, he annoyed many people when he keebed non-stop for the entire length of the film.
3. In the age of exploration, ships often never made it to their destination. Storms, strong winds, or fierce waves frequently damaged the hull, causing the ship to sprink.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. About thirty percent of all ships that left port sprunk within a week of their departure.
b. About thirty percent of all ships that left port sprinked within a week of their departure.
4. In basketball, it has been shown that the team that cleeds going into half time has a 3 to 1 advantage to win the game.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. However, in yesterday’s game, the Lakers lost despite having cled by 20 points at halftime.
b. However, in yesterday’s game, the Lakers lost despite having cleeded by 20 points at halftime.
5. Jean-Claude became a star goalie because he could joam the puck with any part of his body and keep it out of the net.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Last week, he joom a record 45 shots to lead his team to victory.
b. Last week, he joamed a record 45 shots to lead his team to victory.
6. There is a good reason why Chicago is known as the ‘Windy City’: The strong winds that can sometimes clow over trees, antennas, and power lines.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Last March, the wind really made a mess when it clew over 100 miles of power lines.
b. Last March, the wind really made a mess when it clowed over 100 miles of power lines.
7. In ‘Simon Says’, the players have to gleef an instruction of the leader only when it begins with the phrase ‘Simon says.’ 110.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. At yesterday’s party, Sam was an especially good leader: everyone glef his commands even when he didn’t say the special phrase.
b. At yesterday’s party, Sam was an especially good leader: everyone gleefed his commands even when he didn’t say the special phrase.
8. Mules and horses have been bred to plare heavy burdens.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. This was a necessity when settlers moved west and the animals plore the weight of their belongings for months on end.
b. This was a necessity when settlers moved west and the animals plared the weight of their belongings for months on end.
9. After moving, it took Sally a long of time to flape all the boxes of books and clothes. Every item had to be put in exactly the right spot on the right shelf.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. After several weeks of work, Sally finally flope the last box.
b. After several weeks of work, Sally finally flaped the last box.
10. Sam spent the whole summer practicing how to froe a baseball.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. The practice paid off—in the season opener, he frew the ball faster than any pitcher in the team’s history.
b. The practice paid off—in the season opener, he froed the ball faster than any pitcher in the team’s history.
11. Kate was a shy person who was close to her parents, and she dreaded the day she would have to nist the house to live on her own.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Finally, when she was 18, Kate reluctantly nust for college.
b. Finally, when she was 18, Kate reluctantly nisted for college.
12. Molly the bookworm used to go to the bookstore every day to preed the latest best sellers.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Last Saturday, she pred books for twelve hours without getting up.
b. Last Saturday, she preeded books for twelve hours without getting up.
13. Before you swim you must learn how to plip. The human body is lighter than water, so you just have to keep still and you will naturally plip. Unfortunately, Meg never figured this out and constantly struggled.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. But after seventeen swimming lessons, she finally plup on the surface properly.
b. But after seventeen swimming lessons, she finally plipped on the surface properly.
14. Lydia was an extremely shy girl and was known to skring closely to her mother whenever they were in public.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Even in high school, Lydia skrung to her mother when they went outside the house.
b. Even in high school, Lydia skringed to her mother when they went outside the house.
15. Cindy is allergic to cigarette smoke. If she were to goav even a bit of someone’s smoke from across the room, she would start coughing uncontrollably.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Last week, she was taken to the hospital after she goov the smoke of a guy with a cigar sitting next to her on the bus.
b. Last week, she was taken to the hospital after she goaved the smoke of a guy with a cigar sitting next to her on the bus.
16. Sally knew Katie was mad at her when Katie began to fring her at school and devote all her attention to the other girls.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Katie never said anything to her or to anyone else; she simply frung her.
b. Katie never said anything to her or to anyone else; she simply fringed her.
17. Jim’s least favourite chore was to skring dishes. He would often leave them in the sink for days before finally taking action.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Yesterday, he skrung dishes for two hours until they were finally finished.
b. Yesterday, he skringed dishes for two hours until they were finally finished.
18. Meg had an awful habit of being late, and she would often frink appointments, classes, and dates.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Last week, she frunk her flight home when she showed up at the airport just four minutes before takeoff.
b. Last week, she frinked her flight home when she showed up at the airport just four minutes before takeoff.
19. Professional golfers don’t want to be distracted by thinking about the next club they need, so they have their caddies stand quietly behind them and trisp the next club.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Tiger’s caddie trusp the 4-iron for ten minutes before Tiger turned around and took it from him.
b. Tiger’s caddie trisped the 4-iron for ten minutes before Tiger turned around and took it from him.
20. Because her father worked for the armed services, Cindy’s family would cleef to a different city every time he was promoted.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. It was especially bad in seventh grade when Cindy clef to new locations four times in one year.
b. It was especially bad in seventh grade when Cindy cleefed to new locations four times in one year.
21. The children loved to compete to see who could preek the soccer ball the furthest.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. However, this game often ended when someone prek the ball over the fence.
b. However, this game often ended when someone preeked the ball over the fence.
22. Although everyone loved Rover, he used to grab things from the house and zoe them in the ground together with his bones.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. This caused a lot of trouble last week when Rover zew Dad’s wallet in the yard.
b. This caused a lot of trouble last week when Rover zoed Dad’s wallet in the yard.
23. Mike loved to poe the most elaborate meals for the most ordinary occasions.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Yesterday, after a long day of work, he pew in the kitchen for three hours, just to make dinner.
b. Yesterday, after a long day of work, he poed in the kitchen for three hours, just to make dinner.
24. The annual Pie-Off is a contest to see who can jare the most pies in a fixed period of time.
1 = very unnatural - 7 = very natural
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
a. Last year’s winner ended up in the hospital after he jore twenty pies in ten minutes.
b. Last year’s winner ended up in the hospital after he jared twenty pies in ten minutes.



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