Inferences from labels can be so strong that people are often careful to separate labels from the behaviors they describe.

In all these cases, labels involve a particular part of speech: nouns. The trait “liberal” is an adjective, but the category “a liberal” is a noun. Saying that someone “runs a lot” uses “run” as a verb, while saying someone is “a runner” turns that action (a verb) into an identity (a noun).

Consequently, whether to use pronouns or not depends on how we want to assign credit or blame, and how subjective or objective we want what is being said to seem.

As O’Barr had predicted, slight differences in wording changed how the witness was perceived. Speaking like a professional made the witness seem more credible. Listeners saw them as more trustworthy, competent, and convincing, and were more likely to believe what they had to say.

Even in music, though, we found the same result. Music reviews that used more present-tense verbs were more persuasive.