linguistics1-10 Exercise 1: Overgeneralisation =============================================== "I goed to the shop and bringed two mouses" goed go -> went is irregular. The child has applied the regular past rule (add -ed) to "go". bringed bring -> brought is irregular. Same rule, applied too widely. mouses mouse -> mice is irregular. The child has applied the regular plural rule (add -s). Why this is evidence for rule-building: Adults do not say "goed", "bringed" or "mouses", so the child cannot have copied them. They must have worked out a general rule from the regular verbs and nouns and then used it for new cases. The errors disappear when the child learns the exceptions. Children also add the plural to nonsense words (the "wug" test, Chapter 3), which no one could have taught them.