MENTAL MODEL · M2457

Zombie Nouns

DecideHigh supportDecision Science

Included

Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

Abstract nouns derived from verbs or adjectives (nominalizations, e.g., turning "participate" into "participation" or "decide" into "decision-making"). They drain the vitality from sentences, making writing bureaucratic, heavy, and hard to read.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

De-bureaucratize. When editing, circle all words ending in -tion, -ment, -ness, and try to convert them back to verbs. Make sentences "move" rather than "stay still."

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Nominalization turns actions or states into static abstract nouns, causing the sentence to lack a subject and have weak verbs. Readers are forced to mentally convert them back into actions to understand, increasing cognitive load. It makes writing bureaucratic and de-responsibilized (who did it? unclear).

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/4

Practice this model in one real situation:

When editing, circle nouns ending in -tion, -ment, -ness, -ance, etc.
Convert them back to verbs (e.g., "make a decision" → "decide")
Make the real actor the subject
Read through to check if the sentence is "in motion."

Check to track your progress (stored locally)

Learning progress0%

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Source support: Explicit

link
en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NominalizationZH · Explicit
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