Did you ever wonder which came first in English, the noun "price" or the verb "price," and how the one got to be the other? It happened because in English you can instantly -- and creatively -- make a noun into an adjective or a verb, or the other way around. Take our friend at the market with a fresh load of tomatoes. How much should he charge his customers for them? He must first "price" the tomatoes, a verb. Then that becomes the "price" of the tomatoes, a noun. He shows us the price because he has written it on a "price tag" and "price" has become an adjective.

Below, starting as a noun, "truck" becomes the verb "truck" when you decide to take something by truck, and then the truck driver stops at the truck stop because he saw a truck stop sign. could "truck" now be an adverb? Oh yes. Remember, an adverb modifies an adjective.

Are you thinking this is some crazy American quirk that would never be accepted in England? Note below that it works with a lorry as well.

If you want to run an adjective (A2V2N), try "green."We "green" our neighborhoods by recycling. And golfers putt on the green.

There is some chance that you'll be looked upon with awe even by experienced English-speakers, if you can run a word through N2V2A without even cracking a smile. On the other hand, this kind of creativity is so commonplace among native speakers that no one may really notice! Now try these 8 common ones to begin with:

- RENT - LIFT - PAY - CREDIT - DEAL - TALK - STEP - RATE

Start where you wish, and use each word as a noun, a verb, and an adjective. This should be easy!

In this next list of 10, there may be a few that have never been done before, but your creative use of them as three -- or four -- parts of speech should be accepted by any native English speaker (,perhaps with a snort and a leer, but accepted).

DUCTTAPE - use ducttape
BACKDOOR - take in the backdoor
SPECIAL - put on "special" pricing
DOWNSIZE - the result of downsizing
AIRFREIGHT - send by
FLASHLIGHT - reveal surprisingly
PEDESTAL - as in: put it on one
STREET - - as in: put it out on the
CROCKPOT - to cook a notion slowly
VELCRO - stick two things together temporarily

When you master this technique, you will possess one of the secret advantages of English. You will be able to take a language with a huge vocabulary, and triple it instantly.