Some of the main parts of speech include: noun, pronoun, verb, adverb and adjective. Noun and pronoun. Nouns are words that are used to name people, things, animals, places, ideas, or events.

We were all taught in elementary school that adverbs modify verbs and adjectives modify nouns: Happy adults sing happily. That’s true, but there’s more to the story.

“WRITE with nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs” is a traditional bit of style advice. The aim is to get young writers picking a few words that tell, rather than bulking out their ...