Did you ever look around at all the “things” which surrounded us and try to find one where the name (a noun) has not been turned into a verb?
The English language is blessed with a multitude of verbs. Constance Hale, in her book VEX, HEX, SMASH, SMOOCH, Let Verbs Power Your Writing (p.11), says:
“The verb in English enjoys a special primacy. Linguists tell us that verbs make up one of our four major word classes, along with nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. What’s cool about these ‘content’ words…is that their ranks keep growing, making the language ever richer. We get more and more verbs every year!”
She estimates (book published in 2012) that we have 45,000 to 85,000 verbs in the English language.
In her 1/24/23 TKZ post, Kris discussed finding the right “laser beam words.” She mentioned “anthimeria” – subbing one word for another. Another name for a noun turned into a verb is a “denominal verb.”
So, our assignment for today:
- Find a noun that has not been turned into a verb. What is it?
- Create a denominal verb (not necessarily from #1) and nominate it to be inducted into the English language.