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Abstract Abstract: This article sets out to analyze the relationship between nominalization and implicitness/explicitness with reference to the two English versions of Hong Lou Meng. This study first defines English nominalization as a nominalized transform of a finite verbal form and explains nominalized structures by a process of syntactic derivation from their explicit sentential predications. Nominalized structures are more implicit than their corresponding finite clausal structures in terms of subject, object as well as verbal categories, which means that nominalized structures in translated texts may be considered a manifestation of intra-lingual implicitness. Through a combined quantitative and qualitative analysis, the study has made the following three major findings: 1) nominalization in the Joly’s version is significantly more used than that in the Yangs’ version; 2) nominalization reflects Joly’s formal style and the concise style of Yang Xianyi and his wife Gladys Yang; 3) nominalization in the Joly’s version is significantly more implicit in terms of modal verb, while nominalization in the Yangs’ version is significantly more implicit in terms of present tense. The author believes that in a large degree Joly’s significantly more use of nominalization made a diplomatic version of the original novel. Key words: the English versions of Hong Lou Meng; nominalization; implicitness/explicitness
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