Nominalisation

quality is not sacrificed / there is no sacrifice of quality

1. Nominalisation.

Academic and technical writing tends to have a high proportion of nouns to verbs. This is called “nominalisation”. For example:

more verbs than nouns more nouns than verbs
But quality is not sacrificed. But there is no sacrifice of quality.
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Students can communicate with their teachers easily... The ease with which students can communicate with their teachers...
= 6 nouns, 7 verbs = 10 nouns, 4 verbs

Nominalise these sentences by rewriting them, using the word given. You must not use more than six words. Do not change the word given.

For example:

She succeeded because she worked hard.
due to
Her ______________ work.
Her success was due to her hard work.

2. Noun modifiers.

Nouns can be used, like adjectives, to modify other nouns. For example:

education at a distance = distance education
a connection on the Internet by broadband = broadband Internet connection
boards for having discussions = discussion boards
rooms for chatting = chat rooms

The use of noun modifiers is one way of increasing the noun-verb ratio (see the previous exercise).

Use words from the two boxes to make noun + noun combinations for the definitions. Use one word from Box 1 and one word from Box 2 for each definition.

3. Making nouns.

Making nouns from verbs. Compare these two sentences:

If you burn fossil fuel less, carbon dioxide emissions will decrease.
 Burning less fossil fuel means a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions.

Burning less fossil fuel means a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions.
-ING + OBJECT means + NOUN  

Rewrite the following sentences. The first sentences have been started for you. Check punctuation.

4. Verb forms: Imperatives and -ing form.

Look at these two sentences:

    Use less hot water.

Use is a VERB in this sentence.

    Using less hot water means lower carbon dioxide emissions.

Using is like a NOUN here.

Complete the sentences with the verbs in brackets. You need to choose the correct form.

For more information about nominalisation see the Grammar Reference.