Mnemonic device for NOUN and VERB?

Is it a Schoolhouse Rock song “a noun is a person place or thing”? That’s been stuck in my memory since I was a small child.

NNNouns are like NNNames for things.

VVVerbs are like reVVVerberation or VVVibrations (shaking hand) – they’re words about things doing something or being a certain way.

YESSS!!! THANK YOU!! Love it. I will try it tomorrow! I’ll also let you know how it goes.

But reverberation and vibration are nouns…

The word “noun” actually comes from a word meaning “name.” Maybe they can remember that a noun is the name of something, and a verb is the other one.

A verb is about doing something. Nouns do verbs (take the actions denoted by the verbs) and have things done to them by verbs (verbs do things to nouns—perform actions on them). Without verbs, the nouns just sit there. Not even that, because they need the verb “to be” to call them into existence. Verbs are the magic words that summon and animate the objects and entities, which would all be silent, still, and unmanifested without them.

Maybe a picture would help more than a sound-alike word.

Wonderful additional info @Jeruba!

Yeah, a nice thing about having Noun as “Name” is that it also helps later on if you learn Romance languages. Nom, Nomen, Nominus, Nominative Case – all the same root.

Here are two from a longer poem that utilized poetry to remember these two rules…the whole poem below this

A NOUN’S the name of any thing;
As school or garden, hoop, or swing.

VERBS tell of something being done;
As read, write, spell, sing, jump, or run.

Here is the rest of the old poem (from the mid-1800’s) that’ll help you remember the parts of speech:

A NOUN’S the name of any thing;
As school or garden, hoop, or swing.

ADJECTIVES tell the kind of noun;
As great, small, pretty, white, or brown.

Three small words we often see
Are ARTICLES – a, an, and the.

In place of nouns the PRONOUNS stand;
John’s head, his face, my arm, your hand.

VERBS tell of something being done;
As read, write, spell, sing, jump, or run.

How things are done the ADVERBS tell;
As slowly, quickly, ill, or well.

They also tell us where and when;
As here, and there, and now, and then.

A PREPOSITION stands before
A NOUN; as in or through a door.

CONJUNCTIONS sentences unite;
As kittens scratch and puppies bite.

The INTERJECTION cries out “Hark!
I need an exclamation mark!”

When teaching my young son, I referred to verbs as “doing words and being words” adjectives as “describing words” and nouns as “person, place, or thing”

A preposition is anything a cat can do to a house. (In, out, around, beside, etc.)

@Seek makes a good point. It is more important to recognize the different types of words than to know the names for them. You can refer to nouns as naming words and verbs as doing words. You can also use the terms noun and verb, but initially aim for being able to put words into the two groups. Also explain how a noun and a verb together are the minimum requirement for a sentence. Saying “the dog” or “runs” is not a complete sentence, but “the dog runs” is. Once that is understood, you can get the students to refer to the words as nouns and verbs.

“Go” is a complete sentence.

Well, then we’re getting into an implied subject and an imperative verb.