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6. FINDINGS<br />

with which the gerund was used after prepositions since ME times is a consequence of the<br />

decay of the OE inflectional system, and the capacity for the gerund to be preceded by<br />

prepositions, unlike the infinitive.<br />

This preference for all nominalizations to appear as complements of a preposition may<br />

explain their frequent use in scientific writing. Scientific texts are known for their lexical<br />

density, that is, a high number of NPs, some of them quite complex. Nominalizations are<br />

known for their capacity to encapsulate information. As Koptjevskaja-Tamm (1993: 266)<br />

claims, “the complexity of scientific discourse, reflecting the complexity of interrelated<br />

factors in scientific thought, favours nominalizations and other means of maximizing the<br />

amount of information in texts of comparable length.” In this way, nominalizations in<br />

oblique position can be useful to explain the manner in which a particular process should<br />

be done, as in (180), (181) and (182) below:<br />

(180) this is an excellent syrup, for either by adding or deminishing<br />

Simples here unto, according to the Infirmities and nature thereof<br />

it may serve for any grosse matter in any cold distemper. (E2 1639<br />

Wood Alphabetical book Remedy)<br />

(181) How is it possible, without bringing the Wound to Suppuration, to<br />

cause a discharge of extraneous Bodies, as pieces of Clothes,<br />

Splinters of Bones, &c. which for the most part are lodg’d in<br />

Gunshot Wounds? (E3 1698 Colbatch Novum lumen chirurgicum<br />

Surgery)<br />

(182) For the right performance of which task, I must first gieve a<br />

short account of Nutrition, without which my present Undertaking<br />

will be altogether mamed and imperfect. (E3 1698 Colbatch<br />

Novum lumen chirurgicum Surgery)<br />

Thus, in (180) an explanation of how to make syrup is offered. The nominalizations<br />

adding and deminishing are helpful tools here to present the steps that need to be followed<br />

to reach the final aim, namely, the syrup. In (181) someone asks about the way to remove<br />

185

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