Nominalisation: the power of verbs
Verbs are often more powerful than noun phrases
Nominalisation is the term used to describe a noun derived from a verb or adjective.
Nominalisations from verbs
Many, but not all, nominalisations created from verbs end in -ion, -ment or -ance.
communication (communicate)
consideration (consider)
negotiation (negotiate)
movement (move)
deliverance (deliver)
discovery (discover)
failure (fail)
refusal (refuse)
Nominalisations from adjectives
applicability (applicable)
carelessness (careless)
difficulty (difficult)
intensity (intense)
Some nominalisations are useful, but others make our writing unnecessarily wordy. An example of a useful nominalisation is:
The discovery is a breakthrough.
How to change nominalisations into verbs
Some nominalisations that don’t work well, but are easy to fix are:
- When the nominalisation follows a verb with little specific meaning.
We undertook an investigation.
We investigated.
- When the nominalisation follows There is or There are.
There was a committee agreement.
The committee agreed.
Learn more
Watch a YouTube video on nominalisations.
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