50 A METHOD OF MEASURING THE DEVELOPMENT 



either think of no sentence whatever, or one that fails to satisfy 

 them. As these last may be purists, it is necessary to insist 

 that they write some sentence. The sentences written may be 

 divided into three principal groups: 



1. Three distinct ideas are given. — Examples: Paris is a 

 city, someone has a fortune, the stream flows. — Paris is a small 

 citv, a fortune is mcmy cents, a stream is a little river running 

 through a gutter at the side of the pavement. 



2. Two ideas are given. — Examples: In Paris there are 

 some streams and men who have large fortunes. — Paris pos- 

 sesses streams and a fortune. 



3. Onl\ one idea is given. — Example: The Seine is a 

 stream which brings a fortune to Paris. — In a stream at Paris 

 I found a fortune. — A drunken man without fortune has been 

 found in a stream at Paris. 



Another type of sentence, somewhat similar to this uni- 

 fied form, is that in which several phrases are used, but well 

 co-ordinated. / live in Paris; a gutter carrying a stream of 

 water to the sezver runs through the street on which I live. I 

 know a man living a few doors from my father who has a large 

 fortune. — In my youth I was in Paris; for a month I drifted 

 with the stream, then a man took pity on me, he adopted me, 

 and at his death I inherited his fortune. 



We find in these sentences a means of distinguishing 

 several stages of mental development. We retain but two, 

 the last two. The three vvrords in two sentences and the three 

 words in a single sentence. The first of these tests, the three 

 words in two phrases, is never passed at seven years, an age 

 w^hen a child does not write sufficiently well to succeed. At 

 eight years, none, or almost none, succeed. At nine years, 

 one-third of the children, and at ten years, one-half succeed. 

 We allow one minute to write the sentence. If at the expi- 

 ration of one minute the sentence is not written, or at least 

 three-quarters written, the child fails. Note that this is one 

 of the rare tests the results of which may be influenced by 



