Occasionally there is difficulty in getting a response, which is sometimes due merely to the child's unwillingness to express his thoughts in sentences. The earlier tests require only words and phrases. In other cases silence is due to the rather indefinite form of the question. The child could answer, but is not quite sure what is expected of him. Whatever the cause, a little tactful urging is nearly always sufficient to bring a response. In this test we have not found the difficulty of overcoming silence nearly as great as others have stated it to be. In consecutive tests of 150 5- and 6-year-old children we encountered unbreakable silence with 8 words out of the total 900 (150 × 6). This is less than 1 per cent. But tactful encouragement is sometimes necessary, and it is best to take the precaution of not giving the test until _rapport_ has been well established. The urging should take the following form: "_I'm sure you know what a ... is. You have seen a .... Now, tell me, what is a ... ?_" That is, we merely repeat the question with a word of encouragement and in a coaxing tone of voice. It would not at all do to introduce other questions, like, "_What does a ... look like?_" or, "_What is a ... for?_" "_What do people do with a ... ?_" Sometimes, instead of attempting a definition (of _doll_, for example), the child begins to talk in a more or less irrelevant way, as "I have a great big doll. Auntie gave it to me for Christmas," etc. In such cases we repeat the question and say, "_Yes, but tell me; what is a doll?_" This is usually sufficient to bring the little chatter-box back to the task. Unless it is absolutely necessary to give the child lavish encouragement, it is best to withhold approval or disapproval until the test has been finished. If the first response is a poor one and we pronounce it "fine" or "very good," we tempt the child to persist in his low-grade type of definition. By withholding comment until the last word has been defined, we give greater play to spontaneity and initiative. SCORING. As a rule, children of 5 and 6 years define an object in terms of use, stating what it does, what it is for, what people do with it, etc. Definitions by description, by telling what substance it is made of, and by giving the class to which it belongs are grouped together as "definitions superior to use." It is not before 8 years that two thirds of the children spontaneously give a large proportion of definitions in terms superior to use. The test is passed in year V if _four words out of the six_ are defined in terms of use (or better than use). The following are examples of satisfactory responses:-- _Chair_: "To sit on." "You sit on it." "It is made of wood and has legs and back," etc. _Horse_: "To drive." "To ride." "What people drive." "To pull the wagon." "It is big and has four legs," etc. _Fork_: "To eat with." "To stick meat with." "It is hard and has three sharp things," etc.