Nominalizations: effect on recall and comprehension

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