Noted: To find out, I spoke with Maryellen MacDonald, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who studies how the brain processes language. She said that even though your brain knows the grammar rules, other forces override that knowledge. The brain doesn’t just store words like a dictionary does for easy retrieval, it’s more of a network. You start with a concept you want to express and then unconsciously consider several options from its associative grouping and quickly select one. For instance, if you’re explaining how you hit a ball, you might cycle through the concept of a stick, a pole and a bat. Next, your brain will use sound to aid its expression. Here’s where things can get tricky.
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