RESULTS OF AN EARLIER STUDY SUGGEST THAT SENTENCES BEGINNING WITH NOUNS OF HIGH RESPONSE STRENGTH ARE EASIER TO LEARN THAN SENTENCES ENDING WITH NOUNS OF HIGH RESPONSE STRENGTH. THE INFERENCE DERIVED FROM THAT STUDY, AND TESTED IN THE PRESENT STUDY, WAS THAT THE ORDER OF A WORD IN NATURAL SPEECH IS A FUNCTION OF RESPONSE STRENGTH, SO THAT WORDS HAVING HIGH RESPONSE STRENGTH TEND TO BE EMITTED EARLY. IT WAS ASSUMED FOR THIS STUDY THAT THE NAMING RESPONSE TO A STIMULUS ITEM IS STRONGER IN THE PRESENCE OF THE STIMULUS THAN IN ITS ABSENCE. WHEN A PERSON'S MEMORY IS JOGGED BY A GIVEN REFERENT WHICH IS AN ELEMENT IN THE SITUATION TO BE DESCRIBED, HIS ACCOUNT OF THAT SITUATION IS MORE LIKELY TO HAVE THAT REFERENT NEAR THE BEGINNING THAN WHEN HE IS CUED BY A DIFFERENT REFERENT FOR THE SAME SITUATION. TWENTY UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS LEARNED A 12-ITEM PAIRED ASSOCIATE TASK CONSISTING OF EITHER ACTOR OR OBJECT CUE SLIDES PAIRED WITH COLORED CARTOON RESPONSE SLIDES. THE SUBJECTS GENERATED THEIR OWN SENTENCES TO CORRESPOND TO THE RESPONSE SLIDES. WORD ORDER AND GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTION VARIED AS A FUNCTION OF CUE, WHERE THE CUE ELEMENT TENDED TO BE SAID EARLY IN THE DESCRIPTION OF AN EVENT. THIS REPORT APPEARED IN "STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE BEHAVIOR, PROGRESS REPORT IV," 1967, CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE BEHAVIOR, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 220 EAST HURON STREET, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 48108. (AUTHOR/JD)