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Unit 12
Nominalisation
using nouns instead of verbs
What is Nominalisation?
Nominalisation means turning a verb or adjective into a noun to create a more formal and impersonal style. It is common in academic, legal, and business English.
We decided to postpone the event. → The decision to postpone the event was made.
Verb → Noun Transformations
| Verb | Noun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| decide | decision | A decision was made to expand. |
| fail | failure | The plan ended in failure. |
| improve | improvement | There was a major improvement. |
| develop | development | A development was noted. |
| analyse | analysis | A detailed analysis was conducted. |
| achieve | achievement | Her promotion was a great achievement. |
| investigate | investigation | An investigation was launched. |
| agree | agreement | They reached an agreement. |
| grow | growth | There was steady growth in profits. |
Adjective → Noun Transformations
| Adjective | Noun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| strong | strength | Her strength impressed everyone. |
| important | importance | The importance of education is clear. |
| possible | possibility | There's a possibility of rain. |
| efficient | efficiency | The team's efficiency was praised. |
| responsible | responsibility | He took responsibility for the error. |
| accurate | accuracy | The accuracy of results was verified. |
Informal vs Formal — Side by Side
| Informal (verb-based) | Formal (nominalised) |
|---|---|
| We decided to close the branch. | A decision was made to close the branch. |
| They investigated the cause. | An investigation of the cause was carried out. |
| We improved our sales. | There was a marked improvement in sales. |
| The company failed to deliver. | The company's failure to deliver was noted. |
| They grew rapidly. | The company experienced rapid growth. |
Why Nominalise?
- In academic writing, nominalisation avoids personal pronouns (I, we, you) and focuses on concepts rather than people.
- We concluded that training improved results. → The conclusion was that training improved performance.
| Feature | Verb-based (informal) | Nominalised (formal) |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | People / actions | Ideas / results |
| Tone | Personal | Impersonal & objective |
| Use | Everyday speech | Academic / business writing |
Common Noun Suffixes
| Suffix | Examples |
|---|---|
| -tion / -sion | decide → decision, reduce → reduction, expand → expansion |
| -ment | improve → improvement, require → requirement |
| -ance / -ence | perform → performance, depend → dependence, exist → existence |
| -ity | possible → possibility, available → availability, complex → complexity |
| -al / -ure | arrive → arrival, refuse → refusal, fail → failure, press → pressure |
| -ness / -th | aware → awareness, weak → weakness, grow → growth, deep → depth |
Verb + Noun Collocations
Nominalised nouns need the right verb partner:
| Collocation | Example |
|---|---|
| make a decision / an improvement / progress | The board made a decision. |
| carry out / conduct an investigation / analysis / survey | Researchers conducted a survey. |
| reach an agreement / a conclusion | Both sides reached an agreement. |
| have / make an impact on | The policy had an impact on prices. |
| take responsibility / action | The government must take action. |
| ⚠ Don't overuse | Too many nouns make writing heavy. Use nominalisation where it helps clarity. |
Annotated Examples
Subject
Verb
Auxiliary
Object
Adjective
Adverb
Preposition
Hover over any word to see its role.
subjectThe decisionverbto postponeobjectthe eventverbwas unanimous.
↳ Nominalised: "decided" → "the decision to".
subjectA detailed analysisobjectof the dataverbwas conducted.
↳ Nominalised: "we analysed" → "an analysis of".
Common Mistakes
The decide to leave was sudden.
→
The decision to leave was sudden.
Use the noun form: decision (not decide).
There was a improve in quality.
→
There was an improvement in quality.
Noun form needed: improvement.
We saw a grow in sales.
→
We saw growth in sales. / We saw an increase in sales.
Noun form: growth (usually uncountable).
The fail of the plan was unexpected.
→
The failure of the plan was unexpected.
Noun form: failure (not fail).
They made a develop in design.
→
There was a new development in design.
Noun form: development.
The scientists made an investigation.
→
The scientists carried out / conducted an investigation.
Collocation: carry out / conduct an investigation.