Table 1.

Sample sentences from Experiment 1 (in italics) and 2 (regular and italics)

1. Kathy sat nervously in the cab/taxi on her way to the airport. The cab came very close to hitting a car. or A cab came very close to hitting a car.

2. Tony patched up the rip/tear in the sail. The rip was found earlier while sailing. or A rip was found later in another sail.

3. Tommy threw a stone/rock towards the pond. The stone was heading straight for his brother. or A stone was thrown by his brother at the same time.

4. Joshua was riding on his bus to school one morning. A bus was stalled at the butter.

5. Joanne had just won her bet at the horse races. She waited in line to get 75 dollars.