{"id":22706,"date":"2021-12-02T04:26:26","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T08:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/?p=22706"},"modified":"2024-01-01T08:21:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-01T12:21:16","slug":"how-to-avoid-noun-phrases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/2021\/12\/how-to-avoid-noun-phrases\/","title":{"rendered":"How to avoid noun phrases"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>They suck the energy out of your copy<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s nothing like noun phrases to make a tight sentence long, to transform clear, conversational language into stuffy bureaucratese:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_28264\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28264\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"28264\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/2021\/12\/dont-commit-verbicide-choose-verbs-not-nouns\/noun-phrases\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases.png\" data-orig-size=\"450,300\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"noun-phrases\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reverbify noun phrases&lt;\/strong&gt; Noun phrases muddy your words, lengthen your phrases and bore your readers. Turn anemic noun phrases into strong verbs. &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/www.istockphoto.com\/photo\/the-word-noun-with-old-typwriter-keys-gm1139650157-304676547&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image by charles taylor&lt;\/em&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases-300x200.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases.png\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases.png\" alt=\"Noun phrase\" title=\"Noun phrase\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28264 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases.png 450w, https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases-300x200.png 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 450px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 450\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"28264\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/2021\/12\/dont-commit-verbicide-choose-verbs-not-nouns\/noun-phrases\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases.png\" data-orig-size=\"450,300\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"noun-phrases\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reverbify noun phrases&lt;\/strong&gt; Noun phrases muddy your words, lengthen your phrases and bore your readers. Turn anemic noun phrases into strong verbs. &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/www.istockphoto.com\/photo\/the-word-noun-with-old-typwriter-keys-gm1139650157-304676547&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image by charles taylor&lt;\/em&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases-300x200.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases.png\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases.png\" alt=\"Noun phrase\" title=\"Noun phrase\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28264\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases.png 450w, https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noun-phrases-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-28264\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Reverbify noun phrases<\/strong> Noun phrases muddy your words, lengthen your phrases and bore your readers. Turn anemic noun phrases into strong verbs. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.istockphoto.com\/photo\/the-word-noun-with-old-typwriter-keys-gm1139650157-304676547\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Image by charles taylor<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h5 class=\"standalone\">\u201cIt is the intention of this team to facilitate the improvement of our company\u2019s processes.\u201d<\/h5>\n<p>Yet too many communicators write in noun phrases, not in verb phrases.<\/p>\n<h3>Why avoid noun phrases?<\/h3>\n<p>Noun phrases are groups of words where writers have turned verbs into nouns with latinized suffixes. Noun phrases:<\/p>\n<h3>1. Suck the energy out of your copy.<\/h3>\n<p>Noun phrases take perfectly strong verbs \u2014 verbs like \u201cintend\u201d and \u201cimprove\u201d \u2014 and turn them into long, latinized nouns: \u201cintention\u201d and \u201cimprovement.\u201d As a result, noun phrases suck the energy from a sentence, because only verbs can convey action.<\/p>\n<h5>\u201cMuch of what crosses my desk has been through the de-verb-o-rizer a few times.\u201d<\/h5>\n<h6>\u2014 A frustrated communicator<\/h6>\n<p>That\u2019s a problem, because the human brain thinks in action, not in things or ideas. Or so says Jon Franklin, author of <em>Writing for Story<\/em> and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for feature stories:<\/p>\n<div class=\"excerptbox\" style=\"border:1px solid black;\">\u201cWe habitually think of the brain, ours and the reader\u2019s, as being the organ of thought and emotion. But when neuroanatomists examine its wiring, it turns out that it\u2019s at least 95% or more devoted to movement. Human thoughts, all but the tiny minority of philosophical thoughts, are centered on action.\u201d<\/div>\n<p>Don\u2019t turn action into persons, places, things or ideas.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Muddy your words.<\/h3>\n<p>Latinized nouns are almost always longer than the verbs they replace. <em>Intention <\/em>is three characters longer than <em>intend;<\/em> <em>improvement,<\/em> four characters longer than <em>improve.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>3. Lengthen your phrases.<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s not just that noun phrases make single words longer. They also add to the length of sentences.<\/p>\n<p>Noun phrases include<em> the<\/em> on one side of the nouned verb; <em>of<\/em> on the other: <em>The improvement of. <\/em>That makes a noun phrase two words longer than the original verb.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Bore your readers.<\/h3>\n<p>Noun phrases \u201caren\u2019t visual and turn prose pallid,\u201d writes science fiction author Nancy Kress. \u201cSave them for interoffice memos.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>5. Make it seem as if you don\u2019t understand.<\/h3>\n<p>As Joseph M. Williams writes in <em>Style: Toward Clarity and Grace<\/em>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"excerptbox\" style=\"border:1px solid black;\">Novices to a field &#8220;predictably try to imitate those features of style that seem most prominently to bespeak membership, professional authority. And in complex professional prose, no feature of style is more typical than clumps of Latinate abstractions:<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"standalone\">individualized assessment of the appropriateness of the death penalty\u2026a moral inquiry into the culpability of the defendant.<\/h5>\n<p>New writers also \u201coften slip into a style characterized by those same clumps of abstraction.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Avoid these \u201cclumps of abstraction.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Search and destroy noun phrases<\/h3>\n<p>How do you get the action back into noun phrases?<\/p>\n<h5>\u201cExhume the action, make it a verb, and you\u2019re almost certain to tighten and enliven the wording.\u201d<\/h5>\n<h6>\u2014 Claire Kehrwald Cook, author of <em>Line by Line<\/em><\/h6>\n<p>To spot and repair these sloggy phrases:<\/p>\n<h3>1. Search for the word \u201cof.\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t mean that \u201cof\u201d is bad or is part of a noun phrase. But virtually every noun phrase uses the \u201cthe \u2026 of\u201d construction (\u201cthe intention of\u201d instead of \u201cintend,\u201d for example.) When you find an \u201cof\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n<h3>2. Look to the left for a latinized suffix.<\/h3>\n<p>Suffixes like \u201ction,\u201d \u201cment,\u201d \u201cize\u201d or \u201cility\u201d turn verbs into nouns.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Turn noun phrases back into verbs.<\/h3>\n<p>When you find a noun phrase, recast it into a verb-powered sentence. \u201cOur team plans to help improve our company\u2019s processes,\u201d for instance.<\/p>\n<p>The result: Strong verbs that drive your copy \u2014 and sentences that are shorter, more energetic and easier to understand.<\/p>\n<h3>Write for readability.<\/h3>\n<p>Here are four more ways to make your writing clearer and shorter:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/writing-tips\/what-is-readability\/how-to-avoid-passive-voice\/\"><strong>Activate passive voice<\/strong><\/a>: Don\u2019t make your subject objects.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/writing-tips\/what-is-readability\/adjectives-and-adverbs\/\"><strong>Avoid adjective clauses<\/strong><\/a>: Hype just gets in the way.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/revvingupreadership.com\/2020\/03\/prepositional-phrase\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Steer clear of prepositional phrases<\/strong><\/a>: They\u2019re hard to understand.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/revvingupreadership.com\/writing\/what-is-readability\/spelling-punctuation-and-grammar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Nail possessive pronouns<\/strong><\/a>: And other ways to write it right<strong>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Sources: Ann Wylie, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/writing-tools\/cut-through-the-clutter-manual-and-cheat-sheet\/\"><em>Cut Through the Clutter<\/em><\/a><em>,<\/em> Wylie Communications Inc., 2005<\/p>\n<p>Nancy Kress, \u201cWrite Lean and Mean,\u201d <em>Writer\u2019s Digest<\/em>, July 2004<\/p>\n<div id='MMC-Clear' class='widgets_on_page wop_tiny1  wop_small1  wop_medium1  wop_large1  wop_wide1'>\n\t\t\t<ul><li id=\"custom_html-81\" class=\"widget_text widget widget_custom_html\"><div class=\"textwidget custom-html-widget\"><a title=\"Clear-writing workshop, a mini master class\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/corporate-communications-training\/mini-master-classes-home\/clear-writing-course\/\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/clear-writing-training-mmc.png\" alt=\"Clear-writing workshop, a mini master class\" title=\"Clear-writing workshop, a mini master class\" width=\"auto\" height=\"auto\" border=\"0\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 250px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 250\/250;float:left; text-align:left; margin: 0 auto; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 18x; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px; color: #FFFFFF; max-width:100%; max-height:100%;\" class=\"img-max lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/clear-writing-training-mmc.png\" alt=\"Clear-writing workshop, a mini master class\" title=\"Clear-writing workshop, a mini master class\" width=\"auto\" height=\"auto\" border=\"0\" style=\"float:left; text-align:left; margin: 0 auto; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 18x; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px; color: #FFFFFF; max-width:100%; max-height:100%;\" class=\"img-max\"><\/noscript><\/a><h3>Reach more readers with tight writing<\/h3>\r\n\t\r\n<p>Would your piece be twice as good if it were half as long? Yes, say readability experts.<\/p>\r\n\t\r\n<p>So how long should your message be? Your paragraphs? Your sentences? Your words? What reading ease level should you hit?<\/p>\r\n\t\r\n<p>Learn how to write clearer, more concise messages at our <a title=\"Clear-writing workshop, a mini master class\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/corporate-communications-training\/mini-master-classes-home\/clear-writing-course\/\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>clear-writing course<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"btn btn--depth\" style=\"text-align: center;  margin: 10px 0 20px; width:100%;\"><a id=\"btnTT\" style=\"\" title=\"BOOK NOW\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/corporate-communications-training\/mini-master-classes-home\/clear-writing-course\/\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-width=\"91\">BOOK NOW<\/a>\r\n<!-- [if mso]>\r\n<p style=\"line-height:0;margin:0;\"><v:roundrect xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/corporate-communications-training\/mini-master-classes-home\/clear-writing-course\/\" style=\"width:153px\" arcsize=\"8%\" strokecolor=\"#D96237\" filled=\"t\"><v:fill type=\"gradient\" angle=\"180\" color=\"#f16522\" color2=\"#f16522\"><\/v:fill><v:textbox style=\"mso-fit-shape-to-text:t\" inset=\"0px,11px,0px,11px\"><center style=\"font-size:16px;line-height:24px;color:#FFFFFF;font-family:sans-serif;font-weight:bold;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-text-raise:4px\">BOOK NOW<\/center><\/v:textbox><\/v:roundrect><\/p>\r\n<![endif]--><\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><!-- widgets_on_page -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They suck the energy out of your copy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[3620,191,3619],"class_list":{"0":"post-22706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-word-length","8":"tag-single-words","9":"tag-word-length","10":"tag-writing-nouns","11":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v23.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to avoid noun phrases<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reverbify noun phrases: Noun phrases muddy your words, lengthen your phrases and bore your readers. 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