This experiment is code named the red experiment. You may only take the red experiment once per day for payment. If you take this experiment twice in one day, your second one will be rejected. We may have other color experiments up at the same time as this experiment. You may take each color only once per day.

This is an experiment about English sentences. It will take about 5-8 minutes to complete, and you will be paid $1.50 for your time. This experiment is being conducted by Dr. Jon Sprouse at the University of Connecticut, and has been approved by the UConn Institutional Review Board. Please click here to download a study information sheet (pdf) that contains the UConn IRB's seal of approval.

Basic Info

What is your biological sex? Female Male
What is your age?
1. Did you live in the United States from birth until (at least) age 13? Yes No
2. Did both of your parents speak English to you at home? Yes No
Which state did you grow up in (two letter abbreviation)?

Instructions

In this experiment you will read English sentences, and determine if they sound grammatical to you. By grammatical, we mean whether you think a native speaker of English could say this sentence in a conversation. In other words, do you think it would sound odd for your friends to say this to you, as if they don’t speak English natively?

We are not concerned with whether the sentence would be graded highly by a writing teacher: we do not care about points of style or clarity, and we do not care about the grammar rules that you learned in school (who versus whom, ending a sentence with a preposition, etc). Instead, we are interested in whether these sentences could be said by a native speaker of English in normal daily speech.

You will rate the sentence on a scale from 1 (very bad) to 7 (very good). Here are three examples: one that is very bad, one that is in middle of the scale, and one that is very good. You do not need to change these ratings. They are just examples for you.

Example sentences

The was insulted waitress frequently.
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
Tanya danced with as handsome a boy as her father.
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
This is a pen.
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   

 

Sentences for you to judge

OK. Now you are ready to rate the rest on your own. There are 31 sentences for you to judge. You must rate all of them in order to be paid for the HIT.

${surveycode}
  
${1}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${2}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${3}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${4}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${5}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${6}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${7}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${8}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${9}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${10}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${11}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${12}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${13}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${14}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${15}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${16}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${17}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${18}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${19}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${20}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${21}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${22}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${23}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${24}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${25}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${26}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${27}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${28}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${29}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${30}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   
${31}
very bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 very good
   
   
   

You are now finished. Please take a moment to make sure that you answered all of the questions. You will only be paid if you rated all of the sentences.