Want to make your writing sound more sophisticated, formal, and academic? Nominalisation is a powerful technique that transforms actions (verbs) and descriptions (adjectives) into concepts (nouns). It’s a key difference between everyday spoken English and high-level formal writing. 🎓
Function & Usage
We use nominalisation to make our language more abstract and impersonal. It shifts the focus from the people doing the actions to the actions and concepts themselves.
- Academic & Technical Writing: To present information in an objective, authoritative tone. It focuses on processes, ideas, and findings.
Simple: “The scientists discovered something.” → Nominalised: “The discovery was significant.” - Formal Business Communication: To sound more formal and less personal in reports, emails, and official statements.
Simple: “We decided to postpone the meeting.” → Nominalised: “The decision was made to postpone the meeting.”
The Structure (Form)
Nominalisation is achieved by changing verbs and adjectives into their noun forms, often by adding suffixes like -tion, -ment, -ance, -ity, and -ness.
| Original Word Type | Example | Noun Form (Nominalisation) |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | decide, explain, develop | decision, explanation, development |
| Adjective | important, difficult, weak | importance, difficulty, weakness |
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Overusing It: Too much nominalisation can make your writing dense, clunky, and difficult to understand. Good writing has a balance. Incorrect: “The proliferation of explanations was an indication of their communication improvement.” (Hard to read).
- Choosing the Wrong Time: In everyday conversation, using too much nominalisation can sound unnatural and overly formal. Stick to verbs for clarity: “We decided to go” is better than “A decision was made to go” when talking to friends.
Let’s see it in action! 🎬
Informal: Because the team collaborated well, they completed the project successfully.
Formal/Nominalised: The team’s successful completion of the project was due to their effective collaboration.
Informal: The company grew quickly, which was impressive.
Formal/Nominalised: The company’s rapid growth was impressive.
Informal: I am responsible for maintaining the network.
Formal/Nominalised: My responsibility is the maintenance of the network.
Check Your Understanding! ✅
1. The (arrive) of the CEO was unexpected.
2. We need a clear (explain) of the new policy.
3. The (important) of this discovery cannot be overstated.
4. Her (fail) to complete the task had serious consequences.
5. The (develop) of new technologies is moving quickly.
6. “The company expanded.” can be rewritten as “The company’s ___ was rapid.”
7. “We need to investigate the problem.” becomes “An ___ is necessary.”
8. “She is a confident speaker.” becomes “Her ___ is impressive.”
9. “The government responded slowly.” becomes “The government’s ___ was slow.”
10. “The machine operates efficiently.” becomes “The ___ of the machine is efficient.”
