Screams for talking

So my 16 month old son can say a couple sentences and words. But he is going thru this horrible screaming phase. Everything he wants he screams, upsets screams, mad screams, etc.... he has the worse ear piercing screams you can think of, it is awful! He for the most part understands what we are saying. You ask him to do something and he will usually do it, but the communication part is pretty much just screaming. I'm about to lose it. Has anyone else gone thru this and do you have any tips?