Hi. I assume you will be teaching post-secondary classes. First, I'd make sure I had a good textbook; most good ones offer teacher resources and suggested activities. In lieu of that, the internet offers good grammar sites (I have found that most students need a review of basic grammar.) You can also use op-ed pieces, magazine articles and essays to help students determine how a piece is put together: thesis, body, conclusion and how successful the author was with support and research materials. Examples from literature abound, too -- I especially like many of Mark Twain's essays for their clarity and humor.

I've been teaching composition and writing (and I am a writer myself) for more than a dozen years. Each new class is a challenge to keep material fresh and relevant. But that's half the fun -- the other half is seeing your students develop skills they'll use the rest of their lives.

Best wishes.

--Maria Murad, National American University

This is fairly simple: Patient is an adjective, so "I believe I am a patient person" (patient describes the person).

But patience is an abstract noun, (a quality) therefore: "My sister has very little patience; I think she will find the job very tough" (patience is the personal quality.

--Moya Daly, West London UK

To respond to your inquiry, here are a few examples: It is convenient (descriptor) for me to write my response in a Microsoft word program which is well located on my desktop for my convenience (a noun that may be defined as a state of ease). My computer is a convenience (noun) and if it were to fail to function, that would inconvenience (verb) me and I would have to wait for my computer specialist to come to see the computer at his convenience (noun). So convenience is either a noun or a verb. Convenient is a descriptor of a noun or a verb.

Patient is a little more complex because there is such a thing as a patient patient (not many, but still a few do exist). So you are a patient (descriptor) person who may also be a patient of the local psychiatrist if your patience (noun) is too long tested. Except for the specific designation of an individual’s relationship to a medical person or facility, patient (descriptor) is reserved for describing a person’s response to a potentially frustrating event or situation in a calm and reserved manner. In the unlikely event that the patient (noun) is patient (descriptor) when informed that the Dr. has gone golfing we may respond that we appreciate the patient’s (noun) patience (descriptor meaning patient behavior). I hope this makes it all clear and that it does not try your patience too severely.

--Betty Nye Lendway, Florida State University and Florida A&M University