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Acquisition of Comprehension of the Verb Phrase Anaphora Construction

Elaine Z. Lasky
University of Akron, Akron, Ohio

The verb phrase (VP) anaphora is a commonly used construction in English in which part of a sentence, including the verb, is replaced or deleted. The present study investigated comprehension of four types of VP anaphora constructions. Significant differences demonstrated that second graders performed better than first graders, and first graders better than kindergarteners. Significant differences were also found among the different types of VP anaphoric constructions: VP deletion was easier than pro-form, pro-form was easier than prosententialization, and prosententialization was easier than gapping. Implications for evaluation of language, and specifically evaluation of comprehension of language for learning, are discussed.