uw-madison writing center writer's handbook

Follow the principles below to write sentences that are clear, to the point, and easier to read.

Avoid noun strings

Unless readers are familiar with your terminology (or jargon), avoid using phrases with many consecutive nouns (noun strings).

Examples

Noun strings	How to fix them
MHS has a hospital employee relations improvement program.	MHS has a program to improve relations among employees.
NASA continues to work on the International Space Station astronaut living-quarters module development project.	NASA is still developing the module that will provide living quarters for the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.