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Measurements were made

Let’s look at another way to tighten your scientific writing: Hunt for unnecessary nominalizations—nouns formed from verbs. Usage expert Bryan Garner calls them “buried verbs” and says that they “ought to be a sworn enemy of every serious writer.”¹ An overstatement? Perhaps. Nominalizations are not grammatically wrong, but replacing them with verbs is a quick and easy way to streamline your prose.

One nominalization that I encounter nearly every day in my scientific editing is the use of the noun “measurements” instead of some form of the verb “to measure.” Let’s look at some examples, with suggested revisions in italics:

“Omit needless words”

“Omit needless words.” So say William Strunk and E.B. White in their classic little book on good writing, The Elements of Style. Remembering this piece of advice, one of Strunk and White’s elementary principles of composition, will serve you well as you prepare to submit your latest scientific article for publication. There are many ways to pare your sentences to make “every word tell,”¹ but let’s start with the expletive construction “it is known that.” Although expletive constructions have their place in good writing,² their use often leads to unnecessary wordiness and can sometimes even confuse readers momentarily. Consider the following example: