Straight to the point

Spoken English has its own strategies for grabbing the listener's attention. In a book programme on the radio, a lecturer in literature might say: "I think what the author is really trying to say is that ..." When speaking, we often give listeners time to focus on what we are about to say before we say it.

In its written form, though, English is less wordy. When writing an article, the same university lecturer would probably be more concise and write: 'The author is saying that ...'

Nominalization

Turning verbs and adjectives into nouns can be a handy tool. Compare

The employees had been dissatisfied with management for several months over changes in working hours, a union official said.

with

The employees had been dissatisfied with management for several months, a union official said. Their dissatisfaction was due to changes in working hours.

By summing up the first sentence as their dissatisfaction and making it the topic of the second sentence, we can go on to say something more about that topic.

Nominalizations can be used to link paragraphs, as well as sentences. Suppose that in a previous paragraph about reactions in parliament to a government bill, you have begun each sentence with 'Party X/Y/Z argued for/against the bill, claiming that ...". These sentences can then be summed up into an expression which gets the next paragraph rolling: 'The arguments made for and against the government bill were ....

Nominalizations come with a warning, though: Beware of zombie prose. Renowned expert on academic writing, Dr Helen Sword, warns in this short film clip on TED Ed that too many nominalizations will render your writing lifeless.

Living prose tells a story. Compare

The reaction of the chemicals under these conditions led to the formation of a rare compound.

with

Under these conditions, the chemicals reacted to form a rare compound.

In stories, there is always someone doing something:

Elephants argue over small concerns, just like humans.

Nominalization can render even conversing elephants dull:

Arguments over small concerns are something elephants have, as well as humans.

This example, along with further advice on keeping your writing alive, can be found at the Purdue University online writing lab.