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| {{plain|we are supportive of|we support}}<br /> | | {{plain|we are supportive of|we support}}<br /> |
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| [[Nominalisation]] is the act, as adored by [[mediocre lawyer|solicitors]] as it is loathed by anyone having any kind of fondness for the English language, of emasculating a perfectly usable {{tag|verb}} by making it into a {{tag|noun}} and jamming a more boring {{tag|verb}} in front of it. The ''cause célèbre'' of nominalisations — a solicitor’s very favourite — is “to be [[applicable]]”. Here the very respectable noun “[[apply]]” is saddled with a ghastly suffix and made to give up its exciting role as a “doing” word for the comparative lassitude of being a person, place or thing — an abstract thing, at that — whilst leaving that irregular catchall “to be” to have all the fun (as it so often does — or does not; for ''that'' is the question) as the verb. | | [[Nominalisation]] is the act, as adored by [[mediocre lawyer|solicitors]] as it is loathed by anyone having a fondness for the English language, of emasculating a perfectly usable {{tag|verb}} by making it into a {{tag|noun}} (or {{tag|adjective}}) and jamming a more boring {{tag|verb}} in front of it. |
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| But at what cost to the reader? Without thinking on it, choose your favourite:
| | ===[[Effect]]ing a nominalisation: grammatical cross-dressing=== |
| | The worst kind of nominalisation goes a step further: not only must the poor {{tag|verb}} dress up as a noun; an equally unsuspecting {{tag|noun}} must behave like a verb. “[[Effect]]” is this kind of [[nominalisation]]. |
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| ''This clause '''applies'''.'' <br>
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| ''This clause '''is applicable'''.'' <br>
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| ===[[Effect]]ing a nominalisation: grammatical cross-dressing===
| | {{seealso}} |
| The worst kind of nominalisation goes a step further: not only must the poor {{tag|verb}} dress up as a noun; an equally unsuspecting {{tag|noun}} must behave like a verb. “[[Effect]]” is this kind of [[nominalisation]].
| | *[[obligated]] |