An examination of the word-finding problems and nonverbal communication in the conversations of three aphasic patients revealed three different patterns of communicative strategies and success in different kinds of activities, such as tests and conversation. One, with mainly a parietal lesion, hesitates often with turn-keeping gestures and stops to rephrase in conversation, but has few problems in a naming test. The second, with a lesion affecting the insula and arcuate fasciculus, has fluent speech in conversation, with some word-finding problems but adequate verbal and nonverbal communication. This person has great difficulty in naming and nonverbal tests. The third, with a temporal-parietal lesion, relies heavily on illustrating nonverbal communication and is successful in conversation and spontaneous narration. The third patient, however, experiences little success in naming or in producing isolated gestures or facial expressions. It is suggested that the type of activity must be considered in estimating the degree and type of aphasic symptoms in a patient, because the type of aphasia and demands of the activity seem to interact in determining the communicative strategies or patterns shown by different aphasics. (MSE)