Prompted Word Replacement in Active and Passive Sentences

Abstract

A conceptual focus formulation developed in a prior study of encoding of active and passive sentences led to predictions concerning how such sentences are stored and their main semantic units are retrieved from memory. The formulation posed a dominant subject-verb linkage in active sentences but an object-verb linkage characterizing passive sentences. Individuals were presented with either the subject, or verb, or object of previous exposed sentences and were required to replace the other two missing words. As anticipated, the subject was a better prompt for the verb in active than in passive sentences but the reverse relationship obtained when the object was the cue. Similar predictions for situations when the verb was the prompt word were supported when the subject was the response but not when the objects were to be replaced.