How to Write a Madlib

Madlibs can be highly amusing, and a good way to spend some time if you're looking for something fun to do.

They're pretty easy to do, so they should also be pretty easy to create, right? Not exactly. To create a successful Madlib, you need to keep a few things in mind:

1. Know your parts of speech. This is the most important one. When you're asking someone for a noun, verb, adjective, etc., you need to be sure you're clear on what these are. Otherwise, the end result isn't going to work. Here are some quick, general definitions and examples of five basic parts of speech most often used in Madlibs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.

Noun - a person, place, thing, or idea, (e.g. Brian, Paris, shoe, freedom) often marked by the articles, "a," "an," and "the."

The boy sang a song about love. In this example, boy, song and love are all nouns.

Pronoun - a word that takes the place of a noun (e.g. he, she, it)

She ate an apple. In this example, she is a pronoun.

Adjective - a word that modifies a noun or pronoun. In general, an adjective tells the reader what kind, how many or which one.

Alex rode a red bicycle. In this example, red is an adjective (describing the noun, bicycle).

Verb - a word that expresses an action (e.g. run, jump, paint, sing) or state of being (e.g. is, become, seem).

Sarah wrote a sonnet. In this example, wrote is a verb.

Adverb - a word that modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb, and generally answers the questions, where, when, how, why, under what circumstances, and to what extent.

Ann skipped happily. In this example, happily is the adverb (modifying the verb, skipped).

These parts of speech are very basic and cover a broad area, so our next step in creating a successful madlib is:

2. Be specific. You know what kind of word you have in mind for each blank in your Madlib, so be sure to be specific enough to your reader, so they can choose a word that fits well. Some things to keep in mind:

Singular or Plural?

When asking for nouns, indicate whether they should be singular or plural. Let's see an example:

Singular: John threw a book across the room. Plural: John threw a books across the room.