{"id":320,"date":"2022-09-06T04:52:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T04:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wordvice.com\/?p=320"},"modified":"2022-12-05T01:57:57","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T01:57:57","slug":"improve-writing-edit-nominalizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordvice.com\/blog\/improve-writing-edit-nominalizations\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid Nominalizations and Improve Your Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the first part of a series of editing tips, we will show you how to strengthen your writing effectively. The next few posts will cover the most frequent writing issues we see in our clients’ submissions–namely wordiness. We hope that these overviews and exercises help you reduce word count, clarify your writing, and improve your papers! And if you would like to improve your research writing and ensure that your paper is free of errors in style and grammar, consider receiving English editing services<\/a>\u00a0from a reputable editing company like Wordvice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tip # 1:  Verbs Before Nouns (avoid nominalizations)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let’s look at the following examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. We should take into consideration several factors.<\/li>
  2. He must make a decision about what to do.<\/li>
  3. They gave us information about the new research program.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What’s wrong with the above sentences? Grammatically, they’re correct. But, they’re less powerful because they use nominalized verbs. That is, instead of using strong verbs, these examples use weaker noun versions of those verbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. We should <\/span>take into consideration<\/span> several factors. [7 words]<\/li>
    2. He must make a decision<\/span> about what to do. [9 words]<\/li>
    3. They gave <\/span>us information <\/span>about the new research program. [9 words]<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Above, we highlighted the nominalizations in red. For each of these examples, we can delete the prepositions and articles and reduce the phrases to one word. As you can see, when you’re trying to stay within a specific word count, eliminating these grammar constructions helps tremendously<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. We should consider <\/span>several factors. [5 words]<\/li>
      2. He must decide <\/span>about what to do. [7 words]<\/li>
      3. They informed <\/span>us about the new research program. [8 words]<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Another issue with<\/strong> nominalization is that it <\/strong>often creates passive voice constructions<\/strong>. Let’s look at the following example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

         \u00d7<\/span> The analysis <\/span>of how X-factor impacts B gene expression was conducted<\/span>. [11 words]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \u221a\u00a0<\/mark>\u00a0We\u00a0analyzed\u00a0<\/mark>X-factor’s impact on B gene expression. [8 words]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        By shifting the nominalization to a verb, we establish an active voice and remove prepositions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        If you examine the most common nominalizations, you’ll notice a pattern. Phrases using “make” and “take,” gerunds (verb+ing), or nouns typically ending in -tion<\/em>, -sion<\/em>, -ment<\/em>, -ence<\/em>, and -ance <\/em>usually have strong verb counterparts. So, when you edit your documents, use the search function in your word processing software to locate these specific endings and verbs. Then revise, accordingly!<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

        When should you revise nominalizations?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Sometimes nominalizations are unavoidable or necessary; however, we often depend on them more than we should. Below, we list the most common cases in which you should revise nominalized phrases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        1. Meaningless verb + nominalization: Delete the meaningless one and convert the nominalization into the main verb