Comments on: RIP Leonard Stern, creator of Mad Libs

By: Surellin

Surellin — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:51:45 +0000

Oh Lord – thanks for the Mad Lib at the end. I haven’t even looked at a Mad Lib for at least 35 years, but the old reflexes come back. I immediately started looking for toilet and/or sexual humor. And I thought I was grown up.

By: neo-neocon

neo-neocon — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:38:41 +0000

Bill: see definition "ii" for adjectives, here. In the case we're talking about, the verb "be" is involved ("were" being the past tense of "to be"). See also this:

Adjectives are used to modify nouns, e.g. The dog is loud. — What is the dog like? — loud Adverbs are used to modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs, e.g. The dog barks loudly. — How does the dog bark? — loudly

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:08:11 +0000

Hmmmm. “Young” modifies “were”, not “you.” “Young” would indeed be an adjective in “young man,” but that’s because it doesn’t modify a verb. But I think we’re both wrong, or both right. That is, folks might reasonably differ, I believe, as to what “young” actually modifies. There’s also the issue of “young”‘s being part of a phrase, which would be an adverbial phrase, I think–that would modify “you”…as an adjective. Rooting around on Google might give the definitive answer, though I now suspect there isn’t one.

By: neo-neocon

neo-neocon — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:36:19 +0000

Bill: I don’t believe adverb would be correct.

The test sentence I had in mind was, “Did you have a lot of fun playing with Mad Libs when you were young?”

The word “young” is an adjective modifying the pronoun “you.”

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:23:39 +0000

Lovely writing and trenchant thoughts, Neo. And I quite agree, and recall playing as kid, though MadLibs weren’t popular at camp; comic books were. One might profitably (and humorously) consider a latter-day MadLibs, featuring angry folks on the left, caricatures (of human beings) such as Maxine Waters, Weiner, Al Franken. Not to quibble, but the last part-of-speech in your MadLib should be “adverb” rather than adjective, if I recall my grammar (learned in a public school when they still taught such quaint subjects). An adjective modifies only a noun; an adverb modifies a verb (or adjective). N’est-ce pas?

By: annonymous

annonymous — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 05:13:11 +0000

Loved mad libs. Thought they were so much fun and so funny!

By: Wry Mouth

Wry Mouth — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:04:27 +0000

that’s because he *was* the funniest guy

By: vanderleun

vanderleun — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:44:23 +0000

hives
scratch
infected

By: Barb the Evil Genius

Barb the Evil Genius — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:28:48 +0000

Since my birthday was during the summer, an inexpensive way to celebrate was to pitch the family tent in the backyard and have a handful of kids sleep over in it. We spent a lot of time doing Mad Libs at those sleep overs.

By: Cap'n Rusty

Cap'n Rusty — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:49:10 +0000

Another zany great was Ernie Kovacs. His skit “The Nairobi Trio” certainly shows how politically incorrect we once were, but we really laughed hard at it.