False economy What’s in it for me? Understand what makes the

Beware of zombie nouns, verbose flesh-
eaters and stale expressions.
We’ve looked at parasitical prepositions, but the 
damage done by those pesky little words is 
nothing compared to the havoc wreaked by 
zombie nouns and flesh-eaters.
Zombie noun is a term coined by Professor 
Helen Sword, of the University of Auckland, and 
it refers to words that began life as a verb but 
have since been devoured and turned into 
deadly, sentence-ruining nouns.
Common 
zombie 
nouns 
include 
“implementation,” 
“documentation” 
and 
“authorization,” each of which were once 
perfectly good verbs – “implement,” “document,” 
“authorize.” 
This 
transformation 
– 
or 
zombification, if you will – is also referred to, 
ironically enough, as a nominalization.
Zombies are also known to attack adjectives and 
emerge as redundant new words like 
“applicability” and “forgetfulness.”

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Every once in a while a zombie may be 
unavoidable, or at least justifiable – when, for 
instance, writing about an “invention” or 
someone’s “imagination” – but it’s best to search 
your work and double-check any word ending in 
“-ation,” “-ance,” “-mant,” “-ment,” “-ence” and “-
sion.” Such words could probably be removed or 
replaced with the original word to make your 
point clearer.
Flesh-eaters are useless words and phrases that 
can murder a sentence.
Any unnecessarily wordy way of saying 
something simple is a flesh-eater. A common 
example is the phrase “in the possession of” 
rather than “has”; or “concerning the matter of” 
instead of “about.”
As you probably know, flesh-eaters are 
frequently found in legal documents, which is 
why contracts are such a chore to read.
Flesh-eaters are similar to the stale, overused 
phrases that should be avoided whenever 
possible.
It’s foolish to think we can avoid clichés 
altogether, but it’s worthwhile to try and keep 
them out of your writing if you want it to sound 
fresh and original.