The N400 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) was examined by presenting subjects with stimulus series, each composed of seven items. Four different stimulus types were employed: sentences, semantically related words, numbers, and letters. Half of each stimulus series ended appropriately and half ended anomalously, with half of the terminal items for each ending type printed in large letters. Subjects were instructed to read each item of the series and press a button after the last item to indicate whether the series ended normally or oddly. N400 components were observed for all odd-ending series. Large-type endings tended to produce a substantial P300 component which followed and mitigated the preceding negativity effects. Although somewhat different ERP patterns were obtained across stimulus and ending types, it appears that the N400 can be obtained with a variety of stimuli and is followed by a P300 when an explicit categorization of the eliciting stimulus is required.