Writers, the ‘zombie noun’ apocalypse is upon us
In a blog post for The New York Times, university professor Helen Sword says these words are sucking the life from our prose. And the problem is widespread.
In a post for The New York Times‘ Opinionator blog, University of Auckland teacher Helen Sword writes:
“Take an adjective (implacable) or a verb (calibrate) or even another noun (crony) and add a suffix like ity, tion or ism. You’ve created a new noun: implacability, calibration, cronyism. Sounds impressive, right?
“Nouns formed from other parts of speech are called nominalizations. Academics love them; so do lawyers, bureaucrats and business writers. I call them ‘zombie nouns’ because they cannibalize active verbs, suck the lifeblood from adjectives and substitute abstract entities for human beings.”
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today
Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.
