Deletes the people who do things and the people to
whom things are done
Eliminates tense (that is, past, present, and future)
Omits modal verbs (for instance, can, might, should)
When these elements are cut out from a text, the
process (for example, to judge) becomes depersonalized
and is rendered as an object (for example, a judgment).
Such textual entities are not only impersonal, they also take
on the quality of being timeless and fixed, even though
arguments can change and judgments have been overturned.
On this Web page, the nominalizations contribute
substantial weight to the importance and influence of what
nine people do for a living.
Let us imagine the team putting this Web page together.
They have already created the text for the title and
links and are now choosing a photograph. Say they have a
choice of three photographs: the ant’s-eye view, a bird’seye
view, and a “level” view. Which would provide them
with the best “tight coupling” to make the page’s visual
language most effective? For example, how “supreme”
would the Court appear if the bird’s-eye view photograph
was used? Or how timeless and fixed would the Arguments,
Guides, Rules, and Opinions seem if the perspective
of equality were used on the page? Clearly, the team would
choose the ant’s-eye perspective to enhance the importance
of the highest court of the U.S. judicial system, as
already implied by the text.