Let's talk about Nouns and Verbs

   Here's a little food for thought on nouns and verbs.

   Now don't sit there thinking how smart you are and that you know all about nouns and verbs.  You may know what they are, but you don't know their limitations, their magnitude, their importance.  That's what I want to think about--not the definition of these terms and ideas, but how they can be used to communicate.

    Let's take the noun first.  A noun is an idea, and as Sherman Alexie suggests, words help us shape meaning around ideas in our world.  Yes, nouns are used to label things we see.  A cat.  A house.  A dog.  But more often, nouns help formulate complicated ideas and emotions.  Just mentioning a noun conjures up a whole host of experience.  Take this example:



   Why is William Wallace's use of the word "freedom" stirring and evocative?  What does that noun represent beyond the literal meaning?

   Words, nouns, create something larger than reality.  Something people live for.  Something people die for.

   The verb is the most important word in a sentence.  It makes the sentence an act--sentences dominated by the verb are called "active sentences."

   Pick a book from your summer reading that you really enjoyed.  Find a sentence that you think is really effective.  Find the verb from that sentence.  Think about how it effects the sentence.