Table 1.

Mean percentage use of the third person singular (3S) /–s/ inflection with novel verbs in contexts obligating 3S /–s/, with familiar verbs in contexts obligating 3S /–s/, and with novel verbs obligating the infinitive form.

Verb type	M	SD	95% CI
Novel, 3S /–s/ context
Short 3S	96	6	[93, 100]
Long 3S	92	14	[85, 99]
Short NF	34	37	[14, 54]
Long NF	35	40	[13, 56]
Familiar, 3S /–s/ contexta	55	41	[33, 76]
Novel, infinitive context
Short 3S	73	35	[52, 93]
Long 3S	74	32	[55, 93]
Short NF	16	27	[0, 40]
Long NF	24	28	[7, 40]

Note.All table values are percentages. CI = confidence interval; Short = novel verbs heard in shorter sentences; Long = novel verbs heard in longer sentences; 3S = novel verbs heard only with third person singular /–s/; NF = novel verbs heard only in bare stem (nonfinite) form.

^aFamiliar verbs were presented by the examiner with first person subjects before the child was required to use the familiar verbs in third person singular /–s/ contexts.