To examine the textual features that distinguish descriptions and fictional narratives in the products of eight- and nine-year old writers, a study analyzed 14 compositions (seven descriptions and seven fictional narratives) written by 14 third grade students. The samples were rated by two qualified professionals working in writing research, assessment, and instructional materials development, using holistic methods and a four-point scale. After the compositions had been evaluated, they were typed and analyzed for features per T-unit. Preliminary analyses revealed that descriptions were distinguished from fictional narratives by more adjectives, greater lexical collocation, a greater variety of sentence roles, and by adverbial clauses of circumstances. Fictional narratives were distinguished from descriptions by more adverbs, more cohesive ties of conjunction, compound subjects and predicates, and greater movement along levels of abstraction. They also differed in some of the types of adverbial clauses found in text. These results suggest that the genres may be similar in textual features pertaining to numbers of verbs, nouns, and pronouns. They may also be alike in amount of lexical reference and repetition and in ratio of subordinate clauses to numbers of words and to T-units. (Materials used in the study are appended.) (HOD)