Examined use of word order and animacy for interpretation of sentences by typically-developing and language delayed children. Results indicate that typically-developing 2-year-olds use neither cue consistently to interpret sentences; typically-developing 2.5-year-olds used a coalition of word order and animacy cues; and language-delayed 2.5-year-olds used neither cue. At age 3, both groups used word order exclusively to interpret sentences. (Author/VWL)