The relationship between oral reading ability and the use of structure (function) words was examined in a dissertation study which hypothesized that the use of structure words in verbal discourse would be greater in children who have no difficulty in oral reading than in children who experience difficulty. Structure words were identified as those which carry no lexical meaning and which serve as markers, connectives, etc. Subjects were 85 fourth graders selected from a Mississippi school system on the basis of average intelligence, vision, hearing, and physical abilities. An oral reading screening device was administered to all subjects who were then grouped according to difficulty experienced in reading the 180 structure words in the 509-word passage. In addition, a verbal discourse passage similar in length to the reading passage was solicited from each subject and analyzed for type and frequency of structure words. Data were analyzed using t tests which resulted in confirmation of significant differences in structure word errors in oral reading and in use of structure words for the two groups. It was concluded that a close relationship exists between structure word usage in reading and in verbal discourse. A bibliography and tables are included. (MS)