Nominalisation

In the process of nominalisation whole clauses (verb groups) are collapsed into noun groups. What were once ‘activities’ have now become ‘things’ represented by dense noun groups:

Examples

  • ‘human beings keep butting in and mucking up the environment’ – more spoken-like (verb groups)
  • ‘irresponsible human intervention in the natural environment’ – more written-like (noun group)

One can see how language has been compacted in the shift from spoken to written. The compacting has been brought about by a shift from verb groups to noun groups

Derewianka, B. (2011) A new grammar companion for teachers.Newtown, Sydney: E: lit Primary English Teaching Association pp 161

Prefixes and Suffixes

In teaching a unit, or vocabulary list at the beginning of unit, consider teaching word groups using suffixes.

Example

  • paint, painting, painter, painterly, painted
  • govern, governing, government, governed,
  • contaminate, contaminated, contaminating, contamination, contaminators, decontaminate
  • inflame, inflammatory, inflammation, inflamed, inflammable


Academic writing frequently uses nominalisations; that is, the noun forms of verbs.

The process of nominalisation turns verbs (actions or events) into nouns (things, concepts or people).

The text is now no longer describing actions: it is focused on objects or concepts; for example:

We walked for charity. We raised money for the Leukemia Foundation.

The charity walk raised money for the Leukemia Foundation.

The verb 'walked' has been nominalised to the noun 'walk'

As you can see from the example above, when a verb is nominalised, it becomes a concept rather than an action. As a consequence, the tone of your writing will sound more abstract and also more formal

Example

Crime was increasing rapidly and the police were becoming concerned.

The rapid increase in crime was causing concern among the police.

Example

Germany invaded Poland in 1939. This was the immediate cause of the Second World War breaking out.

Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939 was the immediate cause of the outbreak of the Second World War. [invasion of Poland, outbreak are used as nouns]

Example

This information enables us to formulate precise questions.

This information enables the formulation of precise questions.

Example

Organisms reproduce. This is a major characteristic of life.

Reproduction is a major characteristic of life. ['reproduction' is a noun]

Example

Apparently the evidence showed that children were treated differently to each other.

There appeared to be evidence of differential treatment of children.

Example

We analysed the data from the experiment, and it revealed that children react when they have too much sugar.

The analysis of the data revealed children's reaction to excessive sugar intake.