This study of the negative side of children's writing utilized an experimental group and a control group equalized according to sex and the results of the language sub-tests of the Stanford Achievement Tests. Students wrote two 1,000 word composition samples, one during the first month of the study and one during the ninth month. The purposes of the before and after analyses were to determine: (1) whether or not the experimental factor (the teaching of linguistic grammars to the experimental subjects) was effective in increasing the frequency of use of the various combinational verb-phrase options in the writings of the experimental subjects as compared with the written samples of the control subjects, and (2) whether or not boys and girls demonstrated any significant difference in their selection of the various verb-phrase options. Results of these analyses indicate that fifth-grade students show developmental growth in their performance in the use of verb + "be" in subordinate clauses. Growth factors that were significant only for the experimental subjects included the verbal combinations: verb ]"be" in the main clause; main verb in the subordinate clauses, verb ] modal and Verb ]"have" in their subordinate clauses. No significant difference was found in the frequency of verb-phrase options selected by boys and girls of either group in their before and after written samples. This study indicates that growth in elementary children's utilization of verb phrase structures is largely developmental. (Author/CK)