This study looked at the period when language development overlaps the early years of reading, to see how children read and comprehend complex syntactic structures. Thirty-six second, third, and fourth graders, who were considered average readers, were tested in the first experiment using a reading test to determine comprehension of individual sentences and a listening test to determine comprehension of the same structures via a different mode. Items for both tests contained sentence pairs which, although superficially alike, differed in single changes of word or in repositioning of constituents. A second experiment similarly tested the passive construction, with 24 fifth and sixth graders from the same schools. Results indicated that, for this material, there was no significant change in comprehension scores, for any single construction, between grades 2, 3, and 4; that there was insignificant correlation between construction comprehension scores; and that there was insignificant correlation between oral reading errors and reading comprehension scores. These results led to the conclusion that a case can be made for a differential approach in syntactic comprehension, since children tend to treat each construction on an individual basis, and success with one construction does not guarantee success with another construction (Author/LJR)