By Dana P Skopal, PhD
One of the questions that we hear in our writing workshops is: what makes writing clear? That question is not easy to answer, but one aspect all writers should be aware of is how they use nouns. Nouns describe the who, what and where, which are key things that a reader wants to know about.
Nouns and their grammatical make-up can also be called nominal groups or noun phrases. Some people also view nouns simply as describing things. Here it does not matter what you call them, but it is important that you understand their role in a sentence. Usually a nominal group sets up the subject that you are talking about in the sentence. Next, the outcome (or further description) is often set as a nominal group.
Our research showed that once the noun group was over 6 words in length the complexity of the longer noun groups lost most readers. Here are some examples from the Australian Government Department of Health. These guidelines were released this month – November 2020.
The noun group describing a title is: Visitation Guidelines for Residential Aged Care Facilities.
The length is seven words, which is close to what our research showed was an appropriate length for a reader. As a title, possibly most readers could understand what topic the document was going to be on. The document then talks about the committee and gives an acronym: Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC). Next the reader learns of another acronym: residential aged care facilities (RACFs). The use of acronyms, if correctly used, makes following the ‘who’ as noun groups easier for most readers.
Another noun group is: the maintenance of nutritional, physical and psychosocial wellbeing of residents in RACFs. This noun group is 12 words and the main ‘what’ is ‘wellbeing’. As a reader, ask yourself: was that easy to follow? Could the writer have stated: ‘the wellbeing of residents’? From the title we know the document is about residential aged care facilities.
On the same page of the document we have a 13-word nominal group: attendance by a resident to locations external to the residential aged care facility. Is that easy for you to follow? Could the writer have stated: ‘residents’ visits to places outside the facility’?
Maybe focus on building several shorter descriptions for your work/ business /technical information as that can assist your reader. Aim to check the length of your noun groups – or check the length of your descriptions. Your reader wants to be able to understand the ‘what’ that you are writing about. Do not hide your explanation in lengthy complex noun groups – take time to break down your explanations of concepts.