I always hated doing any sort of exercise to another's idea.  Most writers write spontaneously and dislike exercises, but heck, what's an article on writing without at least one?  Try this one:

Write a scene in 300 words or less using each example from the parts of speech listed in the last article.

('Caesar'), ('Rome'), ('kings')--('My'), ('her'), ('his'), ('your')--('great')--('slowly'), (well)-- ('with'), ('in')--('and'),('but'), ('or')--('work'), ('succeed'), ('achieve'),

('curb')-- ('Oh'!)  ('Alas!') ('Ah me'!)  ('How wise'!)

EXAMPLE: 212 WORDS. (Mine, and I sweated every one of those words.)

Napoleon Bonaparte is one of 'my' all-time favorites.  I rate him 'in' importance right up there with 'Caesar', that ill-fated 'king' of 'Rome', 'or' with the young Alexander whose rise to power could not have been more phenomenal than that of Napoleon. 

‘Oh'!  I also liked 'his' empress, Josephine, 'but', 'alas!', he divorced 'her' to marry Marie-Louise of Austria, hoping to 'achieve' his dream of having a male heir. 'How wise' that was of him is open to conjecture.

'My' 'work' for two years involved the writing of a novel about the Napoleonic era.  Napoleon mustered a 'great' army, even after having been exiled to Elba.  He didn't 'succeed' in his attempt to conquer all of Europe, but he was a great man, unable to 'curb' his appetite for more and more

victories. 

'Ah me'!  Eventually, his overwhelmed and undermanned troops 'slowly' retreated 'and' scattered, until they were 'well' overcome and defeated at Waterloo. 'With' sympathy for a man I admired, I wrote him across the pages of my book, down to the last spark in his eyes, which had to be extinguished before he could be truly defeated. 

If it is 'your' desire to read about the world created by this passionate and fiery self-made emperor, read my novel, SONG OF INNOCENCE.

((Had to get that in there. :-)    I strained to use all the words in the exercise, but made it, even if some of the sentences seem a bit awkward. ))

Sometimes we cannot arbitrarily classify a word as a certain part of speech.  Its use in a sentence determines what part of speech it is.  In 'Practice makes perfect,' for example, 'practice' is a noun, the subject of a sentence.  In, 'Practice your lesson,' practice' is a verb.  In, 'Practice games will be played tomorrow,' 'practice' is an adjective, modifying 'games'. 

Words can hurt or heal; they can evoke sympathy or animosity; they can soothe a savage heart, or enrage a gentle soul.  Words are powerful for good or evil. To a writer; therefore words are the substance of his work.

I love this poem written by that excellent author, a friend so many of us know and love, Charles Langley: (He gave permission for the use of this poem.)

     I love words.

     Noun and verb and preposition,

     (dangling or in firm position)

     learned by rote or intuition

     I love words.

     I love words.

     Words of praise or denigration,

     Those of sadness or elation,

     All in endless celebration,

     I love words.

     I love words.

     Be it ode or be it fiction,

     Words are surely my addiction.

     This I say without restriction,

     I love words.

     I love words.

     Let my epitaph convey it.

     Carve the stone with words to say it.

     Spare the hymn, the dirge belay it,

     He loved words.

Have you ever described someone to another, and had the person to whom you're speaking, recognize from your description the one of whom you spoke?  That is how well you want to use descriptive words in your writing. Paint a word picture that a reader can ‘see'.

We should try never to be negative, yet sometimes a negative thought will stay with us much longer than a positive one, therefore, I wish to mention: A few DO NOTS:

Be aware of--and DO NOT say:  "Aren't I?" <— This is much worse than sounding stilted (as some will protest.)  Using a plural verb with a singular subject is worse than saying, "Am I not," which is correct.

DO NOT say: "He's the party I meant."  The word party means a group of persons, except in such legal expressions as "party to a contract."

The word party should never be used to mean one person, any more than the southern expression you all (or ya'll) should be used to designate one person.

DO NOT say: Ways for the word way in the sense of distance.  "It's a long ways off." That is never permissible.  Say, "It's a long way off."

DO NOT say: "I'd like for you to...."   Say: "I'd like you to...."

DO NOT use the word worse for the word more.  "I hate Tom worse than I hate Jim."  Say instead, "I hate Tom more than I hate Jim."

DO NOT use the words going on in place of approaching.  And do not use the word towards.  "He kept going on towards her."  Say instead, "He continued toward her."

Other DO NOTS will be brought in later.

On the POSITIVE side: DO try to put the image you, as the author, have in your own mind onto the page as you write.  If you learn the many nuances of words, you will find that easier and easier to accomplish. 

DO vary your word choices, so as not to be repetitive. 

DO make sure of the proper definition of the words you use, as well as of the proper spelling. 

DO take the time and trouble to research any questionable facts, idioms, or descriptions--so that your work will be free of anachronisms. 

It can be quite jolting for a reader of a novel set in the seventeen hundreds to read of a character being given ether for a surgical procedure (ether was first used as an anaesthetic in 1842).  Equally jolting for a reader is to find a place which was unknown at that time, or a word which was not in use then, or any other error which will cause an author to lose credibility with his/her readers. 

I seem to recall some discussion recently of a writer who penned a work about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in which the writer said Roosevelt contracted polio as a child.  That statement was widely contested by many who quickly declared that he did not contract the disease as a child but was well into adulthood when he did fall ill with ‘polio'. He was born in 1882 and suffered infantile paralysis in 1921, so he was 39 years of age when he suffered that illness, and anyone could have found that information very easily; so, there was no excuse for that error.

INTERESTING FACT: Sheep will not drink from running water. Hence, the line in the Bible in the 23rd Psalm: ‘He leadeth me beside the still waters.'

Coming next: Specific versus general terms, et cetera.

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