Nominalisation in English C1
Turn processes and qualities into noun phrases to condense information, connect arguments and shift focus in formal texts.
Form accurate noun phrases from verbs and adjectives.
Use nominalisation to package known information and build cohesion.
Decide when a direct verb is clearer than a dense noun phrase.
What nominalisation changes
The committee rejected the proposal presents an action. The committee’s rejection of the proposal packages that action as a thing that can become the subject, object or reference point of another sentence.
This grammatical shift changes information flow, not merely vocabulary.
Cohesion through information packaging
A previous proposition can be compressed into a noun phrase: The service expanded rapidly. This expansion created new roles. The noun phrase points backwards and opens space for the next claim.
Effective academic writing alternates between processes expressed as verbs and concepts expressed as nouns.
| Clause | Packaged reference |
|---|---|
| The system failed. | the system’s failure |
| Access improved. | the improvement in access |
| The policy was effective. | the effectiveness of the policy |
Agency and responsibility
The destruction of the records removes the actor unless a by-phrase or possessive restores it. When accountability matters, name the agent: the contractor’s destruction of the records.
Impersonal style is a rhetorical choice, not an automatic sign of formality.
Control density with strong verbs
A sentence such as The implementation of the evaluation of the provision is difficult to process because nouns bury every action. Recasting one or two nouns as verbs restores movement and clarity.
Use nominalisation to organise an argument, not to decorate it.