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NOMINALISATION – A SIMPLE TECHNIQUE FOR FORMAL ESSAYS

20th August 2019 By Alex Markham Leave a Comment

When you have to write formal essay s in business or for the Academic IELTS Writing Tasks, you’ll need to use formal English.

One technique to achieve this is to change the main information from a  verb phrase  to a  noun phrase . This gives a passive and hence a more formal feel to your writing. It’s a technique called nomalisation .

WHAT IS NOMINALISATION?

Nominalisation is where we use a verb, and sometimes an adjective or an adverb, as a noun. This means we turn actions (verbs) into things or concepts (nouns). This often means changing the verb into a noun version through a suffix.

For example, to evaporate (verb) becomes evaporation (noun), to investigate (verb) becomes investigation (noun) and to judge (verb) becomes judgement (noun)

Nominalisation can also serve to make the text more concise, which is exactly what you want to do in business and academic essays.

So that’s the grammar theory, but how can we use this for our formal essays? Let’s look at some examples.

USING NOMINALISATION IN FORMAL ESSAYS

When we write or speak we typically use a subject + verb sentence or a  clause to describe an event. Here’s an example:

Companies (the subject) enter (the verb) different markets to increase (another verb) their revenues.

However when we write formally , language which is less personal and more objective is preferred. Using the example above, we can make the sentence appear more formal by changing the main information from verb phrases – companies enter the markets and to increase their revenues – into noun phrases.

Here’s the example converted to noun phrases:

Companies seeking an increase ( noun phrase) in revenues become new entrants (noun phrase) in different markets .

SOME EXAMPLES OF NOMINALISATION FOR FORMAL ESSAYS

• Verb – to increase: The company has increased its revenues
• Noun – an increase: There has been an increase in the company’s revenues
• Verb – to improve: Governments want to improve education standards
• Noun – an improvement: Governments want to make an  improvement  in education standards
• Verb – to educate: All parents want schools to better educate their children
• Noun – an education: All parents want schools to provide a better education for their children
• Verb – to enter: Multi-national companies are entering the South American market
• Noun – an entrant or an entry: Multi-national companies are new entrants to the South American market or Multi-national companies are making an entry into the South American market
• Verb – to fly: It’s advisable  to fly during the week to gain discounts
• Noun – a flight: It’s advisable to take a mid-week flight to gain discounts

FORMAL WRITING USING NOMINALISATION

Replacing the usual subject+ verb sentences with noun phrases are a great way to improve your formal essays. Noun phrases rather than verbs make them more formal and less personal, enabling you to focus on the facts rather than any emotions.

Be careful though, this type of language is only really suitable for essays and if you were to use it in your everyday speech you would sound strange and your speech far too formal.

If you’re looking for a way to improve your formal writing, then nominalisation is a simple method to achieve this.

If you have any comments or questions on writing formal essays using noun phras es, please leave a comment or drop me an email via contact me.

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Nominalisation

Nominalisation (or nominalization in US English!) is when we take verbs or adjectives and turn them into nouns or noun phrases.

So in other words, we are transforming actions or events (verbs) or  descriptions of nouns and pronouns (adjectives) into things, concepts or people (nouns).

This is important for  academic writing  because it will:

• Prevent you from keep repeating the same verb or other word again
• Make your writing less personal as the focus will be on an action rather than who did it

Your writing will thus be more creative, varied, and interesting.

Nominalisation of Verbs

The easiest way to understand this is by looking at examples. Take a look at the following sentences. The verb is shown in red, and in the second sentence it has been nominalised.

The government is introducing new tax rules that should help those on low incomes

The introduction of new tax rules should help those on low incomes

' By the government ' could follow after the word ' rules '. However, most people know it's the government who changes tax regulations so it can easily be left out and makes the sentence more concise without losing the meaning. 

This next example of nominalisation also shows how this technique can make your writing more concise by using fewer words to express meaning:  

She was thinking about all the work she had to do and this made her stressed

The thought of all the work she had to do made her stressed

Here are some examples of verbs being nominalised. There are of course 100s of verbs, so these are just some illustrations of how they are changed:

Nominalisation of Adjectives

For adjectives, the same principles are followed. We transform the adjective into a noun:

The delegates at the conference questioned whether the clothes the speaker was wearing were appropriate

The delegates at the conference questioned the appropriateness of the clothes the speaker was wearing

It's worth noting at this point that when we nominalise, there is often more than one way to construct the new sentence. For example, we can also bring the adjective to the front of the sentence:

The appropriateness of  the speakers clothes was questioned by the delegates at the conference

You'll also see the sentence has been made more concise by changing 'the clothes the speaker was wearing' to the 'speakers clothes' . It's a good skill in academic writing to be able to write things as concisely as possible yet in a formal style. 

Collective Groups

One of the most common reasons for nominalising adjectives in English is when the adjective has been used to denote a collective group . This is then changed to a noun by simply omitting the original noun in the sentence (people) and adding 'the'.

Here are some common examples:

• The government needs to do more to help homeless people
• The government needs to do more to help  the homeless
• Poor people often have a lower life expectancy than rich people
• The poor often have a lower life expectancy than the rich
• The charity was set up to help blind people
• The charity was set up to help the blind
• I've always found French people very friendly 
• I've always found the French very friendly 

Here are some examples of adjectives being nominalised. Again there are of course 100s of adjectives, so these are just some for illustrative purposes:

Nominalisation and Academic Writing

It has been noted how nominalisation is often related to academic writing so it's worth looking at a specific example of how it could be used to improve style.

Papers and Articles

When writing papers and articles in the natural and social sciences, for example, it's assumed that you will not refer to yourself. Take a look at the difference between these two sentences:

I analysed the data, which revealed the numbers of obese people had increased . 

An analysis of the data revealed  an increase in obesity

You will see how the writing has been depersonalised by omitting 'I' and nominalising the verb 'analysed'. In addition, the verb 'had increased' has been changed as this makes the whole sentence shorter (this has also involved  reducing the relative clause ).

Shortening sentences whilst retaining academic style and not changing the meaning is important when you are trying to write a paper within a limited number of words!

Nominalisation is also something a writing examiner will notice if you are taking the  IELTS test . It's something that would be expected of someone getting band 7 or higher for grammar. 

It can of course be used in essays, but also for IELTS graphs. Nominalising some sentences will give you a greater variety of structures. For example, the first sentence below is commonly seen written by candidates, but it can also be written another way:

The number of visitors increased sharply from 2005 to 2010

There was a sharp increase in the number of visitors from 2005 to 2010

In the second sentence, the verb becomes noun and the adverb becomes an adjective. Both are ok but it's better to have a mix rather than relying on one too much.

Now check what you have learned in this nominalisation practice exercise >>>

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Nominalization: What It Is and How to Use It Effectively

Nominalization is a powerful tool that can be used to transform verbs and adjectives into nouns. It is an important aspect of academic and technical writing, but it can also be used effectively in everyday communication. In this article, we will discuss what nominalization is, why it is useful, and how to use it effectively.

What is Nominalization?

Nominalization is the process of turning verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech into nouns. For example, the verb “discuss” can be nominalized as “discussion,” and the adjective “dangerous” can be nominalized as “danger.” Essentially, it involves turning words that describe actions, qualities, or concepts into words that represent objects or things.

Why is I t Useful?

Nominalization is useful for a number of reasons. First, it allows writers to convey abstract concepts in a more concrete way. By turning a verb or adjective into a noun, writers can create a clear and concise representation of an idea or concept. This is particularly useful in academic and technical writing, where clarity and precision are highly valued.

Second, it can help to create a more formal tone in writing. By using nouns instead of verbs or adjectives, writers can make their writing sound more objective and professional. This is important in many contexts, such as academic writing, where an impersonal and objective tone is often expected.

Finally, it can help to simplify complex ideas. By turning a series of verbs or adjectives into nouns, writers can create a more streamlined and cohesive narrative. This can make it easier for readers to follow the writer’s train of thought and understand the main points of the text.

How to Use Nominalization Effectively

While nominalization is a powerful tool, it should be used judiciously. Here are some tips for using it effectively:

• Use it to convey complex ideas in a clear and concise manner. However, don’t overuse it, as this can make your writing sound overly complicated or difficult to read.
• Use it to create a more formal tone in your writing, but be careful not to make your writing sound too stiff or impersonal.
• Use it to simplify complex ideas and create a more streamlined narrative. However, be careful not to sacrifice clarity for brevity.
• Be mindful of the suffixes you use when nominalizing words. Some suffixes, such as “-ment” and “-tion,” are more common than others.
• Use it sparingly in everyday communication, as it can make your speech sound overly formal or stilted.

Examples of Nominalization

Here are some examples:

• Verb : discuss
• Nominalization : discussion
• Adjective : dangerous
• Nominalization : danger
• Verb : analyze
• Nominalization : analysis
• Adjective : creative
• Nominalization : creativity
• Verb : demonstrate
• Nominalization : demonstration

Nominalization is a powerful tool that can be used to transform verbs and adjectives into nouns. It is useful for conveying abstract concepts, creating a formal tone, and simplifying complex ideas. However, it should be used judiciously to avoid making writing overly complicated or difficult to read. By following these tips and using it effectively, writers can create clear, concise, and professional-looking texts.

Example Exercises

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What Is Nominalization in English Grammar?

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In English grammar , nominalization is a type of word formation in which a verb or an adjective (or another part of speech ) is used as (or transformed into) a noun . The verb form is nominalize . It is also called nouning .

In transformational grammar , nominalization refers to the derivation of a noun phrase from an underlying clause . In this sense, an "example of nominalization is the destruction of the city , where the noun destruction corresponds to the main verb of a clause and the city to its object " (Geoffrey Leech, "A Glossary of English Grammar" ,  2006).

Examples and Observations

"English is truly impressive . . . in the way it lets you construct nouns from verbs, adjectives, and other nouns; blogger and blogosphere are examples. All you have to do is add one of an assortment of suffixes : -acy (democracy), -age (patronage), -al (refusal), -ama (panorama), -ana (Americana), -ance (variance), -ant (deodorant), -dom (freedom), -edge (knowledge), -ee (lessee), -eer (engineer), -er (painter), -ery (slavery), -ese (Lebanese), -ess (laundress), -ette (launderette), -fest (lovefest), -ful (basketful), -hood (motherhood), -iac (maniac), -ian (Italian), -ie or -y (foodie, smoothy), -ion (tension, operation), -ism (progressivism), -ist (idealist), -ite (Israelite), -itude (decripitude), -ity (stupidity), -ium (tedium), -let (leaflet), -ling (earthling), -man or -woman (Frenchman), -mania (Beatlemania), -ment (government), -ness (happiness), -o (weirdo), -or (vendor), -ship (stewardship), -th (length), and -tude (gratitude). . . .

"At the present moment, everybody seems to be going a bit nuts with noun creation. Journalists and bloggers seem to believe that a sign of being ironic and hip is to coin nouns with such suffixes as -fest (Google 'baconfest' and behold what you find), -athon , -head (Deadhead, Parrothead, gearhead), -oid , -orama , and -palooza ." (Ben Yagoda, "When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It". Broadway, 2007)

Nominalization in Scientific and Technical Writing

"The forces which operate to encourage nominalization are understandable. Dealing continually in concepts, scientific and technical writers tend to isolate activities such as 'experimenting,' 'measuring,' and 'analysing' as abstract conceptual units in their minds. They are also pushed towards passive constructions, both by tradition and by their own desire to step aside and allow their work to speak for itself. These forces produce characteristic constructions such as:

A similar experiment was carried out using the material . . . 'Sigma' preparation was carried out as described . . .

So common has 'carried out' become as a general purpose verb that it is a recognized marker of 'scientific' reporting, and television news bulletins commonly adopt the construction when reporting scientific work. . . . "Once recognized, nominalization is easy to correct. Whenever you see general-purpose verbs such as 'carry out,' 'perform,' 'undertake,' or 'conduct' look for the word which names the action. Turning the name of the activity back into a verb (preferably active ) will undo the nominalization, and make the sentence more direct and easier to read." (Christopher Turk and Alfred John Kirkman, "Effective Writing: Improving Scientific, Technical, and Business Communication", 2nd ed. Chapman & Hall, 1989)

The Dark Side of Nominalization

"It’s not just that nominalization can sap the vitality of one’s speech or prose ; it can also eliminate context and mask any sense of agency . Furthermore, it can make something that is nebulous or fuzzy seem stable, mechanical and precisely defined. . . . "Nominalizations give priority to actions rather than to the people responsible for them. Sometimes this is apt, perhaps because we don’t know who is responsible or because responsibility isn’t relevant. But often they conceal power relationships and reduce our sense of what’s truly involved in a transaction. As such, they are an instrument of manipulation, in politics and in business. They emphasize products and results, rather than the processes by which products and results are achieved." (Henry Hitchings, "The Dark Side of Verbs-as-Nouns." The New York Times, April 5, 2013)

Types of Nominalization

"Nominalization types differ according to the level of organization at which the nominalization takes place (see also Langacker 1991). . . . [T]hree types of nominalizations can be distinguished: nominalizations at the level of the word (e.g. teacher, Sam's washing of the windows ), nominalizations which nominalize a structure that lies in between a verb and a full clause (e.g. Sam's washing the windows ) and, finally, nominalizations consisting of full clauses (e.g. that Sam washed the windows ). The latter two types deviate from the 'normal' rank scale of units in that they represent nominals or phrases which consist of clausal or clause-like structures. They have therefore been regarded as problematic, and it has even be claimed that that -structures are not nominalizations (e.g., Dik 1997; McGregor 1997)." (Liesbet Heyvaert, "A Cognitive-Functional Approach to Nominalization in English". Mouton de Gruyter, 2003)

"Nominalizations properly refer to third-order entities, e.g. 'Cooking involves irreversible chemical changes,' in which cooking refers to the process as a generic type, 'abstracted' from a particular token instance at a specific time. A second kind of nominalization involves reference to second-order entities. Here reference is to particular countable tokens of processes, e.g. 'The cooking took five hours.' The third kind of nominalization has been called improper (Vendler 1968). This refers to first-order entities, things with physical substance and often extended in space, e.g. 'I like John's cooking,' which refers to the food which results from the cooking, (the RESULT OF ACTION AS ACTION metonymy )." (Andrew Goatly, "Washing the Brain: Metaphor and Hidden Ideology". John Benjamins, 2007)

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• Nominalisation is the process of changing verbs or adjectives to nouns.
• The nominalisation grammatical process develops complex grammar noun-phrase structures.
• Nominalisation helps achieve a higher degree of abstraction and technicality.
• Nominalisation is a typical feature of academic writing.

Nominalisation Example

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Nominalisation in EAP

The title of this guide suggests it is applicable to English for Academic Purposes and, indeed, it is.  However, nominalisation is not confined to EAP so this guide is linked from elsewhere, too. Many of the examples in the guide are taken from academic materials but the concepts are unchanged, whatever the text type.

Nominalisation (n.) is derived from the Latin nomen , also the root of the word noun , meaning name . Literally, it means the act of giving something a name but in our field it has the more precise meaning of changing the status of a word, phrase or clause to a noun. Here are some examples:

• drink (verb) → drink (noun) with no change to the word at all, a process of conversion
• compute (verb) → computer (noun) with a suffix [- r ]
• clear (adjective) → clarity (noun) / cleanliness (noun) with a change to the morphology / morphology + pronunciation
• he left (intransitive finite verb phrase) → his departure (genitive + noun) making the verb phrase into a noun phrase
• I discovered the new species ... (transitive finite verb phrase) → the discovery of the new species [by me] (noun phrase post-modified with the of genitive)
• He broke it and that caused a problem (two coordinated finite verb phrases) → His breaking of it caused a problem (a pre-modified gerund as the subject of a single finite verb phrase)

As you see, there are lots of ways that nominalisation occurs in English but the first question is to ask why we should want to do it at all. As a way to answer this, compare these two sentences:

• If you place a particle of sodium in water it produces hydrogen
• Placing a particle of sodium in water results in the production of hydrogen

It's easy to see that the former is akin to spoken language and out of place in academic writing whereas the second formulation, which means the same thing, is more appropriate in written academic reports.

Reason 1: Nominalisation achieves formality with the use of noun phrases instead of active verb phrases. Reason 2: Nominalisation removes the need for verb subjects and avoids the necessity to state who does what to what or whom.  This means that a suitably objective and impersonal note can be struck.

How does it do that?

What has happened in sentence 2. is that both verb forms have been nominalised. The first: by making a gerund, post-modified with an object complement, a genitive and a prepositional phrase and making that whole noun phrase the subject of the verb result in . The second: by simple suffixation to change the verb produce + its object to the noun production + a genitive of description. If we compare the structures of the two sentences we get:

A somewhat simpler way of looking at this is: Sentence 1. consists of two clauses, each with their own active verb forms:     If + subject (personal) + verb + object and subject + verb + object Sentence 2. has only one clause with a nominalised subject and a nominalised object:     Subject (impersonal) + verb + object Although the structure of sentence 2. is therefore simpler, we have crammed the same information into the noun phrases.  That's what nominalisation does: it moves the information from the verb to a noun.

The introduction to this guide contained six examples of the common types of nominalisation in English.  In any EAP programme, we'll want to break the ways down to make sense of them for our learners.  Here's one approach to doing that.

These are all examples of word formation.  Making a noun from verbs and adjectives is often quite simple and the guides to word formation and teaching word formation have more in this area. Here are some examples:

• -ance / -ence: appearance, allowance, clearance, disturbance, guidance, performance, coalescence, convergence, emergence, existence etc. For example:     We allowed for some errors → Allowance was made for error
• -ment: accomplishment, alignment, apportionment, arrangement, commencement, development, endorsement, improvement, measurement, replacemen t etc.  This is a very productive suffix. For example:     We arranged the interviews → The arrangement of the interviews
• -or / -or: actor, regulator, computer, discoverer, receiver etc.  Potentially, -er or - r can be affixed to any verb in English to denote the agent.  The -or suffix is no longer productive but still exists on words like actor, doctor, vendor etc. For example:     Guru discovered ... → The discoverer of ... was Guru
• -ant: informant, disinfectant, inhabitant, propellant, pollutant etc.  This suffix is often used in more scholarly settings and for verbs which end -ate such as participate → participant, lubricate → lubricant, penetrate → penetrant etc. For example:     200 people participated in the survey → There were 200 participants in the survey
• -ation / -cation / -tion / -sion: satisfaction, justification, investigation, inspection, comprehension, compression etc.  This is another very productive set of suffixes converting states or actions into nouns. For example:     We inspected the results and they showed ... → The inspection of the results showed ...
• -al: refusal, dismissal, revival etc.  This suffix converts dynamic verbs, often reporting verbs in EAP, to countable nouns. For example:     Guru dismissed the results → Guru's dismissal of the results
• -ing : the classic gerund maker for all verbs in English.  There are no irregular gerunds. For example:     It was difficult to explain the issue → Explaining the issue was difficult
• -age: coverage, shrinkage etc.  This is almost completely unproductive in making new nouns. For example:     The questionnaire covered many areas → The questionnaire had wide coverage
• -ness: addictiveness, backwardness, illness, orderliness, usefulness etc.  This is a very productive source of abstract nouns and new ones are coinable.  Words ending in -ful or -less are often converted to nouns with this suffix. For example:     The presentation was very orderly → The good orderliness of the presentation
• -ity: elasticity, similarity, adjustability, computability etc.  Adjectives ending -ible or -able are often converted to nouns in this way. For example:     Results were comparable → The comparability of the results

For EAP purposes, we need to focus on what happens to the syntax of a clause when we nominalise by affixation or simple conversion.

• In many cases, all that is needed is the insertion of a copular verb to link the noun phrase we have made to an attribute.  For example:     It was easy to calculate the difference → Calculation of the difference was simple     It was impossible to estimate the effect → Estimation of the effect was impossible     Many people participated → Participation was good
• The addition of an of descriptive genitive structure is often required.  For example:     The outcome was similar → The similarity of the outcome     We investigated the changes → The investigation of the changes     The people who live in Margate → The inhabitants of Margate
• Frequently, we need to find a suitable verb for the noun to act as the subject, with or without the genitive form.  For example:     The material is elastic so ...→ The elasticity of the material allows ...     The patient was too ill to travel → The patient's illness prevented travel     We discovered that ... → The discovery indicated that ...

We saw above that we often have to make quite drastic adjustments to the syntax to nominalise and adopt an appropriately academic style.  Here are the examples again:

Essentially, as we saw, this means pre- and post-modifying subject and object noun phrases and linking them with an appropriate verb.  In this way, we can change, for example:     We carefully investigated in the laboratory exactly what the reaction produced and found that it was very toxic which contains four verbs ( investigated, produced, found, was ) to     A careful laboratory investigation of the exact nature of the product of the reaction revealed great toxicity which contains only one verb, revealed , with the rest of the information embedded in noun phrases.

The key here is complex nominalisation of the original informal verb phrases.  It works like this:

The core of the sentence is a simple Subject–Verb–Object formula: An investigation revealed toxicity and that is, in fact, syntactically far simpler than the informal expression of the same idea.  Realising this is a key reading and writing skill.

This is not a simple area to learn and needs to be taken piecemeal. The easiest place to start is the formation of nouns from adjectives and verbs.

To introduce the area, a simple matching exercise can be used.  Something like this:

This alerts people to two things:

• That verbs may be nominalised
• That the resultant style is more appropriate

This is just an example.  Learners will need lots of practice to notice all the significant differences.

Unpacking some especially complex nominalisations is a half-way house to the ability to use them and also, of course, a useful reading skill in itself. Presenting learners with exercises like this can help:

Learners need quite a lot of practice in spotting nominalisations and deciding which parts of the pre- and post-modification they can safely ignore.

For productive purposes, once the learners are aware of what needs to happen, the same kind of exercise can be done but this time the learners have to make the adjustments rather than simply identify what they are. Here's one for adjective to noun formation:

and here's another for making syntactical changes

and so on. Adjustments will be made for level, of course, and a good deal of practice will be needed.

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Article contents

Nominalization: general overview and theoretical issues.

• Rochelle Lieber Rochelle Lieber Department of Linguistics, University of New Hampshire
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.501
• Published online: 25 June 2018

Nominalization refers both to the process by which complex nouns are created and to the complex nouns that are derived by that process. Nominalizations common in the languages of the world include event/result nouns, personal or participant nouns (agent, patient, location, etc.), as well as collectives and abstracts. It is common for nominalizations to be highly polysemous. Theoretical issues concerning nominalization typically stem from the question of how to account for this pervasive polysemy. Within generative grammar, both syntactic and lexicalist approaches have been proposed. The issue of polysemy in nominalization has also been of interest within cognitive and functional frameworks. The article considers, finally, the extent to which nominalization is subject to competition and blocking.

• nominalization
• competition

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date: 25 May 2024

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Sentence Clarity: Nominalizations and Subject Position

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This resource will help students understand what nominalizations are, as well as how and when they should be used in sentences.

Nominalizations are nouns that are created from adjectives (words that describe nouns) or verbs (action words). For example, “interference” is a nominalization of “interfere,” “decision” is a nominalization of “decide,” and “argument” is a nominalization of “argue.”

Below are some of the more common nominalizations (on the left) and their original forms (on the right):

As you can see, the endings of the nominalized forms vary, but many end in “-ion/tion”, “-ment,” “-ity/–ty”, and “-ness.”

So, why does this matter?

First, it is important to understand what these words mean when you see them. Second, if you are aware of what nominalizations are, you may use them to make your writing easier to understand.

Remember, the two most basic units of a sentence are the subject and the verb.

Subject → Verb

Character → Action

Person or Thing → Doing Something

Sentences often start with a subject followed by a verb, and are easily understood according to this order. For example,

Many children → experience worries when they go to school for the first time.

Elephants → argue over small concerns, just like humans.

The sentences above are very clear, but you might see some with nominalizations, like the ones below:

The experience of children with respect to being at school for the first time is common.

Arguments over small concerns are something elephants have, as well as humans.

This second set of sentences is more difficult to understand because the use of the nominalization means there must be more words in the sentence.

Subject → Verb : easy to follow

Subject → Long strings of nominalizations and other forms → Verb : hard to follow

Here is an example of the difference between the two structures:

The group discussed how to plan the surprise party.

The discussion of the group was about how to surprise the girl with the birthday without her knowing.

Are nominalizations always a bad choice?

No. Sometimes, nominalizations can be useful:

• When the nominalization is familiar to your reader as a character (happiness), it can be treated as a character. Example: Happiness has many causes and effects.
• When you are making a general statement that focuses more on the idea than the actual actors in the sentence. Example: The distribution of the pizzas was fair.

Be sure to remember that even in a case where a nominalization is appropriate, you should not use them too often in too short of a space.

Student Activities

For additional practice with this concept, please refere to our two sentence clarity quizzes. For quiz 1, click here . For quiz 2, click here .

·          Verbe :               lire                →           la lecture

·          Adjectif :           frais              →           la fraîcheur

  Elle peut s'effectuer par l'ajout d'un suffixe à la racine du verbe : 

On peut aussi procéder par suppression de la terminaison verbale  

a nominalisation peut s'effectuer sans changement du verbe :

. La nominalisation peut s'effectuer par l' ajout d'un suffixe à l'adjectif  : 

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The power of nominalisation

As teachers, our role is to move  students from spoken to written realms and from written to spoken.   We call this  moving  across the  register  continuum.  

• At one end of the continuum (left), there is the most spoken language which usually happens face-to-face and accompanies  some kind of action .   
• In the middle of the continuum, spoken and written language overlap, so some texts are spoken-like but written and could be read aloud ( eg.  an email or narrative) or written-like but spoken ( eg.  an oral presentation).   
• The other end of the continuum (right) is the most written end, where language is most reflective, where the text is constructed by the writer for an unknown reader, and deals with generalisations and abstractions.  

Nominalisation is a major resource for moving across the register continuum . It can be defined as a  linguistic process in which meanings that are typically realised by verbs, adjectives and   conjunctions are realised more abstractly by nouns.  It  is used to realise more abstract meanings seen in written language   and for building up technical meanings in the various subject areas.  

Here are a few examples of nominalisations:  

Here, we can see that  the verbs, adjectives and conjunctio ns in the more spoken versions (left column)  have become nou ns in the more written versions (right column).  We can see these new forms as more metaphorical   because we are breaking the usual link between processes being realised through the verbal group   (‘explained’, ‘failed’) and attribute participants being realised th rough adjectives (‘persistent’).  Instead, they are realised by nouns. We can see the effect this has on the clause. Where the meaning   was initially realised through one or more clauses (‘she explained to him why she failed’), it is now   realised by a nominal group (‘Her explanation for her failure’).   

Also note how, with some nominalisations, the connection between the nominalisation and the verb   or adjective is mo re direct (‘explained’ to ‘explanation’, ‘persistent’ to ‘persistence’) and with others   less direct (‘are not working’ to ‘out of work’ to ‘unemployed’ to ‘unemployment’) and others even   more cryptic (‘didn’t’ to ‘lack’).  This is why  nominalisation is often very difficult for students to develop control of.   

Typically, teachers de-nominalise highly written texts that students encounter in the  classroom  but we need to ensure that students are taken back to the written end once they have understood the meanings at the more spoken, common-sense end. A shared understanding of the role of nominalisation by both the teacher and the students will make these shifts transparent and more likely to be taken up by the students.

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parcours de français

Lundi 5 février 2018, la nominalisation.

Définition:

1.      à partir d’un verbe ., 2.      à partir d’un adjective. abondant -> abondance, inquiet -> inquiétude, attention plusieurs dérivations sont parfois possibles. exemples :, solution des exercices, 7 commentaires:.

To the hill

Destruction .progression.reborsement.creation.sanction

cours animés de littérature lecture depuis le classicisme jusqu'au 20ème...

https://youtu.be/h2C5B8L1nWY