One of the problems found in present readability formulas is the lack of control for syntax, other than sentence length. Judging the complexity of a sentence based on word count alone does not allow for such circumstances as: coordinate clauses joined by "and"; deletions; passive forms; and coordinate clauses, dependent clauses, and participles. The Syntactic Complexity Formula was developed to provide a more reliable and valid guide for the control of syntactic complexity. The formula is based on transformational grammar theory, experimental data on children's processing of syntactic structures, and language development and performance studies of the oral and written language used by children. The research findings which proved most helpful in determining which syntactic structures are most familiar and easily understood included: that a typical order seems to exist in the acquisition of language; that a very few sentence forms make up a substantial part of the child's oral and written syntax; and that the direction of language maturity in the child's use of language entails the use of subordination, participles, gerunds, appositives, and nominal absolutes. (WR)