Two research projects focused on the nature of verb choice and its relationship to a composition's general effectiveness and reader impact. In the pilot project, 28 fifth grade students received an instructional unit of 27 lessons emphasizing the incorporation of precise verb vocabulary and the elimination of forms of "to be" and "to have" as main…

Differences between reporting and classificatory functions in writing were examined in the responses of grade 10 and grade 12 students: 60 who were successful English students, and 60 on the borderline of passing in each of the grades. The reporting tasks required students to write compositions describing their first day in a high school or some…