1. Deconstructing academic writing:
a look at nominalization
Read both versions:
Version 1: First coined by John Williams in his book Style: Toward Clarity and
Grace, “nominalization” is the term used to describe the transformation of
a verb into a noun, thereby creating a complex sentence that satisfies the
traditional expectations of academic writing.
Version 2: In other words, by transforming verbs into their noun equivalents,
students and academics can create complex sentences that are traditionally
expected in academic writing. This process is called “nominalization,” a term
which was first coined by John Williams in his book Style: Toward Clarity and
Grace.
The two paragraphs above say exactly the same thing; however, the first
is packed with nominalizations. Two examples include “the transformation
of a verb,” which was “unpacked” to “by transforming verbs into,” as well as
“satisfies the traditional expectations of,” which became “traditionally expected
in.” Academic writing is known for its thick, muddy sentences choked with
nominalizations and noun phrases, and not everyone agrees that this is the
best way to communicate.
Helen Sword (2012) advocates that such overuse of these “zombie nouns”
results in work that is dry, uninteresting and incredibly difficult to read. She
maintains that it depersonalizes writing by “cannibalising active verbs, sucking
the lifeblood from adjectives and substituting abstract entities for human
beings.” Considering that the content of the articles themselves is often rife
with exciting new ideas, it seems a shame that the reading experience is
greeted with little enthusiasm. An argument has consequently been put forward
that the use of nominalization detracts from the overall quality and purpose of
clear communication or, at its very worst, “can impede communication entirely.”
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Studies were done by Spyridakis and Isakson (1998) in a bid to discover
whether the use of nominalization affects the overall recall and understanding
of article content. While their findings were inconclusive, results indicated
that text containing nominalization was read more slowly and often with less
comprehension and long-term recall. However, countering this was the impact
of text hierarchy: articles written with high-level nominalized language were
verified faster than those without. In other words, complex language is like
wearing a suit to a job interview; it doesn’t matter what the article contains, as
articles written in the style of academia are more likely to be read with gravity.
Continuing with our analogy regarding job interview fashion, however, we
would also not be well received in a tux and tails. An article containing
excessive nominalization is likely to result in the reader focusing more on the
deconstruction of the language than the content itself. An excessive amount of
anything is not a good thing. Nominalization has a role to play in academic text:
it gives us the option of being more abstract and impersonal, it emphasizes the
main point without dwelling on less significant issues, and it allows us to squeeze
more information into fewer words.
Therefore, regardless of the controversy surrounding nominalization and
complex sentences in academic writing, there’s no arguing the fact that they’re
imperative to master if you want to be taken seriously within your field. So,
here’s how you start:
1. Learn to identify nominalized expressions in writing. There are a few tricks
(that are not foolproof), such as looking for “of” between two nouns or noun
phrases.
2. Match verbs to nouns and nouns to verbs. For example, “collide” = “collision.”
Pay attention to the ends of words (suffixes) and you may find some
patterns. For example, verbs ending in “d” are usually replaced with the suffix
“sion” when being changed into a noun. Use these little “rules” to help with
spelling in all word forms.
3. Create your own complex noun phrases. Start by producing a simple N V
N (Noun Verb Noun) structure. For example, the phrase “Study deserves
success” can be built upon by using adjectives: “Diligent study deserves
anticipated success.” Or use a quantifier: “Diligent study deserves much
anticipated success.” Finally, add a post-modifier: “The diligent study of
English deserves much anticipated success.”

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This guide was brought to you by Anna Stewart. Anna
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4. Use the above noun phrase and process of nominalization to create a
rich sentence packed with information. For example, you could write,
“Researchers’ deductions regarding the anticipated success of the diligent
study of English inspired a fresh intake of new students to the university.”
Ultimately, English text, academic or otherwise, is about communication, and
a good text is not one that necessarily uses big words but rather is able to
convey a complex idea clearly, such that the average person can understand
and absorb it.
Spyridakis, J. H., and Isakson, C. S. (1998). Nominalizations vs. denominalizations:
Do they influence what readers recall? The Journal of Technical Writing and
Communication, 28 (2), 163–188. Retrieved from http://www.hcde.washington.
edu/files/people/docs/Nominalizations.pdf
Sword, H. (2012, July 23). Zombie nouns. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/zombie-nouns/
Sources
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