lowed the Binet
procedure, merely substituting for Paris the name of a city better known
to the subject. Binet's requirement of a written response also makes the
test harder.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle to uniformity in the use of the test comes
from the difficulty of scoring, particularly in deciding whether the
sentence contains enough absurdity to disqualify it, and whether it
expresses three separate ideas or only two. It is hoped that the rather
large variety of sample responses which we have given will reduce these
difficulties to a minimum.

An additional word is necessary in regard to what constitutes an
absurdity in (b). A sentence like "There are some rivers and lakes in
the desert" is not an absurdity in certain parts of Western United
States. In Professor Ordahl's tests at Reno, Nevada, many children whose
intelligence was altogether above suspicion gave this reply. The
statement is, indeed, perfectly true for the semi-arid region in the
vicinity of Reno known as "the desert." On the other hand, such
sentences as "The desert is full of rivers and lakes," or "There are
forty rivers and lakes in the desert," can hardly be considered
satisfactory. Similar difficulties are presented by (c), though not so
frequently. "Men who work do not have money" expresses, unfortunately,
more truth than nonsense.

IX, 6. FINDING RHYMES

PROCEDURE. Say to the child: "_You know what a rhyme is, of course. A
rhyme is a word that sounds like another word. Two words rhyme if they
end in the same sound. Understand?_" Whether the child says he
understands or not, we proceed to illustrate what a rhyme is, as
follows: "_Take the two words 'hat' and 'cat.' They sound alike and so
they make a rhyme. 'Hat,' 'rat,' 'cat,' 'bat' all rhyme with one
another._"

That is, we first explain what a rhyme is and then we give an
illustration. A large majority of American children who have reached the
age of 9 years understand perfectly what a rhyme is, without any
illustration. A few, however, think they understand, but do not; and in
order to insure that all are given equal advantage it is necessary never
to omit the illustration.

After the illustration say: "_Now, I am going to give you a word and you
will have one minute to find as many words as you can that rhyme with
it. The word is 'day.' Name all the words you can think of that rhyme
with 'day.'_"

If the child fails with the first word, before giving the second we
repeat th