Y12W22VC Why your writing loses readers

Relating to thinking, mental processes, and the acquisition of knowledge; involving the conscious processing of information.

Word Breakdown: cog- (know, Latin) + -nitive (relating to)

Word family: cognition (n.), cognisable (v.)

Synonyms: mental, intellectual, thinking-related

Collocations: cognitive load, cognitive science, cognitive process

Example: The basic problem most bad writing doesn't account for is that reading is cognitively expensive.

To break down into meaningful units; to analyse or examine something in order to understand its structure or meaning.

Word family: parsed (v./adj.), parsing (v.)

Synonyms: analyse, break down, interpret

Collocations: parse a sentence, parse the meaning, parse the code

Example: Every sentence your brain parses consumes attention.

Focused mental engagement or concentration; the directing of awareness toward specific information or tasks.

Word Breakdown: at- (toward, Latin) + -tend (stretch/extend) + -tion (act of)

Word family: attentive (v.), attentively (adv.)

Synonyms: focus, concentration, awareness

Collocations: pay attention, hold attention, reader's attention

Example: A paragraph of sentences each demanding three operations starts to eat the reader's capacity for attention.

To make unclear or difficult to understand; to hide or conceal from view.

Word family: obscured (v./adj.), obscurity (v.)

Synonyms: conceal, hide, confuse

Collocations: obscure the meaning, obscure the view, obscure the issue

Example: Academic writing sometimes obscures ideas rather than revealing them.

The grammatical transformation that turns verbs into abstract nouns, often making sentences harder to read and burying the actual action.

Word Breakdown: nomin- (name, Latin) + -alisation (act of)

Word family: nominalise (v.), nominalised (v./adj.)

Synonyms: verbing, substantivation

Collocations: excessive nominalisation, reduce nominalisation, nominalisation obscures

Example: Using complex nominalisations makes sentences harder to parse than using active verbs.

Specific and tangible; referring to particular things that can be experienced directly through the senses, rather than abstract concepts.

Word Breakdown: con- (together, Latin) + -crete (grow)

Word family: concretely (adv.), concreteness (v.)

Synonyms: specific, tangible, definite

Collocations: concrete example, concrete details, concrete language

Example: Name concrete things rather than abstract ones to engage the reader.

General and non-specific; referring to ideas, qualities, or concepts that cannot be perceived directly by the senses.

Word Breakdown: ab- (away, Latin) + -stract (pull/draw)

Word family: abstractly (adv.), abstraction (n.)

Synonyms: general, theoretical, conceptual

Collocations: abstract concept, abstract noun, abstract idea

Example: Abstract nouns like 'policy' and 'consequences' are harder to visualise than concrete ones.

In grammar, the voice of a verb in which the action is done to the subject rather than by the subject; the opposite of active voice.

Word Breakdown: pass- (suffer/endure, Latin) + -ive (having the quality of)

Word family: passively (adv.), passivity (v.)

Synonyms: inactive, receptive

Collocations: passive voice, passive construction, passive sentence

Example: Passive voice is over-used in most writing.

The grammatical process of transforming a verb or adjective into a noun, which often makes sentences more abstract and harder to process (e.g. 'make a decision' instead of 'decide').

Synonyms: related term, similar concept

Collocations: avoid nominalisation, heavy nominalisation, nominalisation buries the verb

Example: In practice, the grammatical process of transforming a verb or adjective into a noun, which often makes sentences more abstract and harder to process (e.g.

Specific, tangible, and directly observable words and phrases, as opposed to abstract generalisations; language that creates a clear mental image.

Synonyms: related term, similar concept

Collocations: use concrete language, prefer concrete to abstract, concrete nouns and verbs

Example: In practice, specific, tangible, and directly observable words and phrases, as opposed to abstract generalisations; language that creates a clear mental image..

The total mental effort or burden a sentence, paragraph, or task places on the reader's working memory and processing capacity.

Synonyms: processing demand, mental burden

Collocations: reduce cognitive load, high cognitive load, excessive cognitive load

Example: Writing that manages the reader's cognitive load doesn't fail because ideas are weak; it fails because ideas never get through the overhead of decoding the prose.

Two grammatical constructions: active voice has the subject performing the action (agent-focused); passive voice has the subject receiving the action (patient-focused). Active voice is typically faster to process.

Synonyms: related term, similar concept

Collocations: use active voice, avoid passive voice, active voice construction

Example: The committee reviewed the report' (active) is clearer than 'The report was reviewed by the committee' (passive).

Steven Pinker's term for the writer's inability to imagine not knowing what they know, causing them to produce prose that is clear to themselves but opaque to readers who lack their background.

Synonyms: related term, similar concept

Collocations: suffer from the curse of knowledge, overcome the curse of knowledge

Example: In practice, steven pinker's term for the writer's inability to imagine not knowing what they know, causing them to produce prose that is clear to themselves but opaque to readers who lack their background..