@ D the G

Sorry if I've made the thread drift, it was about learning more, and then somebody mentioned a specific ballad, so I read a bit about that.

And thanks for the constructive comments and helpful suggestions for further reading to Steve.


Generally:

"Cliche and commonplace are chalk and cheese - one is dismissive, the other a simple description - it isn't an adjective, it's a verb" ????

I think we have been using both as nouns, though the word 'commonplace' has certainly been used as a verb in the past and may well be used in that way in some work on ballads.