After presenting a brief description of the principles of a story grammar, some experimental results are summarized to illustrate the power of story schemata in controlling recall. Specially constructed versions of four stories were used with second, fourth, and sixth graders and in a second experiment with adults. One version of each story was structured to reflect an "ideal" form predicted by the story grammar; a second version mixed together elements from separate episodes of the ideal form. Results indicated that most retellings of the stories regrouped the elements in a pattern that reflected the ideal form. Comparisons between age groups indicated that children relied more heavily than adults did upon story schemata to organize memory and recall. (AA)