A Beginners Guide to Using Nominalizations in Business Writing

A Beginner's Guide to Using Nominalizations in Business Writing As businesses become more international, so must our writing. Most of the time, good business writing skills transfer very well to global audiences, but there is some confusing vocabulary that global business writers should try to avoid. Avoiding nominalizations Nominalizations are nouns that refer to a process. As a quick reminder, a noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are often found as the subject of the sentence: Efficiency is important. But they can also be found as: the object of a verb: This is my or the object of a preposition: Let’s go in the office. Nominalization itself is an example of a nominalization, but more common examples are words like evaporation, condensation, mechanization, and optimization. As you have probably noticed, they often end in –ation/-tion/-ition. These are the types of words often used in science or in highly specialized fields, and they make it easier for us to talk about our fields of expertise. However, they are often difficult to understand for native speakers outside of that field, never mind non-native speakers! So how can we avoid them? Since nominalizations are nouns that refer to a process, there is always a verb hidden inside each one. For example: evaporation – evaporate condensation – condense mechanization – mechanize optimization – optimize hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(41482, '39de76fa-b005-4d0a-9136-a9a423513681', {}); The easiest way to avoid using nominalizations is to rewrite the sentence using the verb of the same meaning. Here is an example: Heating water to the boiling point causes evaporation. vs. Heating water to the boiling point will cause it to evaporate. Even though the second sentence is longer, the use of â€Å"to evaporate† is much clearer for non-native and native speakers alike because the nominalization is less commonly used overall, and â€Å"to† usually alerts readers to a verb. Let’s look at another example, this time with a more involved rewrite: Optimization of our work force is a key goal of our company. vs. Our company wants to optimize our work force. In the first sentence, the actual agent (actor) is unclear – optimization is the subject of the sentence, but optimization doesn’t actually do anything. Our company will be doing the actual action. The revision in the second sentence is much clearer for two reasons: (1) the subject, our company, is the actual agent, and (2) the use of the verb, to optimize, is much easier to identify. As you can see, using nominalizations can lead to more complex writing and can be difficult to understand if the reader is outside the area of expertise. Using the verb hidden inside each nominalization will force you to write more clearly and be more direct. (In case you wondering what the verb hidden in nominalization is, it’s â€Å"nominalize† which means â€Å"to make into a noun.† Unfortunately, even this isn’t very clear, either!) Writing for a global audience is not so different from good business writing. Short, clear, direct sentences help your reader to respond in a timely manner. If you are looking to improve your writing, see our full list of business writing tips.Instructional Solutions offersNon-Native Business Writing WritingClassesfor participants for whom English is not a first language that willhelp youwrite better at work.

How to Make Thermite With Aluminum from an Etch-a-Sketch

How to Make Thermite With Aluminum from an Etch-a-Sketch You may have learned about exothermic reactions in chemistry class. In an exothermic reaction, chemicals interact and release heat and often light. Burning wood is an exothermic reaction. So is rusting of iron, although the reaction is so slow you dont notice much going on. You can react iron much more quickly and spectacularly using the thermite reaction, which burns aluminum. The classic method of performing the reaction involves iron oxide, aluminum powder, and magnesium, but you can make do with household materials: 50 grams of finely powdered rust (Fe2O3)15 grams of aluminum powder (Al) Iron Oxide Collect rust from a rusted iron object, such as rust from a wet steel wool pad. Alternatively, you can use magnesite as your iron compound, which may be collected by running a magnet through beach sand. Aluminum This is where your Etch-a-Sketch comes into play. The powder inside an Etch-a-Sketch is aluminum. If you crack open the Etch-a-Sketch, you have the perfect complement to the iron oxide from the previous step. However, if you cant find an Etch-a-Sketch, you can grind aluminum foil in a spice mill. No matter how you get it, wear a mask when dealing with aluminum powder because you dont want to breathe it in. Wash your hands and everything after working with the stuff. Etch-a-Sketch Thermite Reaction This is insanely easy. Just be sure to choose a location away from anything flammable. Use eye protection when viewing the reaction, since a lot of light is emitted. Mix together the iron oxide and aluminum.Use a sparkler to light the mixture.Move away from the reaction and let it burn to completion before cleaning it up. Once it is cool, you can pick up the molten metal and examine it. You can use a propane torch instead of a sparkler to initiate the reaction, but try to maintain your distance as much as possible.

Effects Of Media On The UAE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Effects Of Media On The UAE - Essay Example And now in this era of increasing media penetration how children are brought up is a lot different; their childhoods are spend playing with toy guns (no wonder this is where all the violence stems in) and as they grow up they become cruel young men who believe life is nothing but a war zone which can be conquered with their "toy guns" (Wellisch 2000). Television is that source of the media which affects our society most strongly. When I say strongly, I mean it because a research by Emercon Statistics, 2000, show that on average a person who subscribes to cable in Dubai watches television more then 6 hours a day! Everyone knows of the success story of Dubai; it used to be a desert not until long ago, till the Sheikhs invested some money in developing this city and what you see now is one of the mega cities of the world! Foreign media played an important change in this development of Dubai from a desert to a city, then a mega city and now eventually a media and fashion hub! The effects foreign media has on the UAE are countless. It has changed peoples' life style, how to perceive things, what they study and how they study and even more their aspect towards life! Bryant, J., & Thompson, S. (2002). Fundamentals of media effects gives this situation: An Arab wife, previously she used to sit in the home and settle all the household chores so that when her family came home in the afternoon, they could all spend quality time. As time passed, American television channels opened in UAE and that made the Arab women know about the American culture (where husband and wife both go to work). And now If you see an Arab wife in this era, they're don't perceive life as to staying at home and waiting for their family to comeback while they settle their chores, they instead and go out and work! Media of course has changed lifestyles. (Bryant & Zillmann 1994) The youth I believe has been affected significantly of the lot. It is generally believed that media exposure brings more aggression into, viewers especially in youth if the movie is a violent one. To prove my point I believe there wouldn't be a better example then the classical "Bobo Doll Experiment" from Strasburger, V. C. (1995). Adolescents and the media: Medical and psychological impact. This experiment was done on nursery going children. They were put into a play room where they observed a television where an adult was hitting and kicking and inflatable doll and making sounds as if he was really fighting. The movie was then stopped and the children were observed for the next ten to twenty minutes. On the other hand another group of children were put to play with a similar doll, but they weren't made to see the adult hitting the doll video. The results were significant and as expected! The group who witnessed the video was performed similar aggressive acts on the doll while the o ther lot did not. The above experiment proves that the youth tend to take what they get from the media. According to Ravitch, D., & Viteritti, J. P. (2003). Kid stuff: Marketing sex and violence to America's children, most human rights group have called in for a total ban on movies for youth, especially those that depict sexual and violent scenes. Considering the negative