Nominalizations: effect on recall and comprehension
C.S. Isakson, Jan H. Spyridakis · 2002
This study evaluated the effects of nominalizations (verbs that have been transformed into nouns) used in technical documents on subjects' recall and comprehension. Subjects read one of four technical passages (one of two texts, a nominalized or denominalized version) and took a recall and a comprehension test. Results indicate that nominalizations critical to the central meaning of the passage affected recall. Comprehension was not affected by nominalization/denominalization.