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Conditionals / Relative clauses / Contrasting phrases / Cause and effect structures
Nominalisation
Jump to - What is nominalisation? / Why do I need to do it? / How do I turn an independent clause into a noun phrase? / What happens to the subject pronoun?
What is nominalisation?
Nominalisation is changing a word which is different part of speech to a noun.
You can change an adjective to a noun:
Decorative (adjective) - Decoration (noun)
You can change a verb to a noun:
Identify (verb) - Identification (noun)
Leave (verb) - Leaving (gerund as a noun)
You can change an adverb to a noun:
Effectively (adverb) - Effective (noun)
Why do I need to do it?
There are many complex structures that use noun phrases as a clause within the sentence.
A noun phrase is a clause that does not have a verb.
Examples:
Due to the increase in crime, the government decided to hire more police officers.
Due to the increase in crime - a subordinate clause that is a noun phrase.
The government decided to hire more police officers - an independent clause with a verb (decided)
See more about 'due to' and other cause and effect structures.
Despite having a lot of relevant experience, he was not hired for the job.
Despite having a lot of relevant experience - a subordinate clause that is a noun phrase.
He was not hired for the job - an independent clause with a verb (was)
See more about 'despite' and other contrasting phrases.
How do I turn an independent clause into a noun phrase?
You change the verb into a noun or you can remove the verb to be.
Changing a verb into a noun
You can use a noun form of the verb or change the verb into a gerund (verb+ing)
Fail (verb) - Failure (noun)
Decide (verb) - Decision (noun)
Fail (verb) - Failing (gerund as a noun)
Decide (verb) - Deciding (gerund as a noun)
Look at these sentences:
The city failed to prepare for the drought.
There was a huge shortage of food.
These are both independent clauses and full sentences. There is a connection between them. A cause and effect connection.
First look for the verbs - Failed, was
Change them to nouns - failure, failing, being
Use an appropriate verb or conjunction
Verbs: lead to/ result in/ cause/ bring about/ give rise to
Conjunction: because of/ due to/ as a result of
Examples:
Verbs:
The city's failure to prepare for the drought lead to there being a huge shortage of food.
The city failing to prepare for the drought brought about there being a huge shortage of food.
Conjunctions:
Due to the city's failure to prepare for the drought, there was a huge shortage of food.
There was a huge shortage of food as a result of the city failing to prepare for the drought.
Removing the verb to be.
An easy way is to remove 'there + be' from a sentence.
Look at the same sentence from before:
There was a huge shortage of food.
This is a full sentence.
A huge shortage of food
This is a noun phrase as there is no verb.
Examples:
The city failing to prepare for the drought lead to a huge shortage of food.
There is a large number of cars on the roads. (with verbs)
There is a lot of pollution in the city. (with verbs)
A large number of cars on the roads results in a lot of pollution in the city. (turned into noun phrases)
There are many experts in dentistry. (with verbs)
These experts think that children should not consume sugary soft drinks. (with verbs)
Many experts in dentistry think that children should not consume sugary soft drinks. (turned into noun phrases)
What happens to subjects in a noun phrase?
In a noun phrase subject pronouns are turned into object pronouns or removed.
Look at these sentences:
She stole money from the company. (full sentence)
She was fired. (full sentence)
There is a cause and effect connection between these two sentences.
Verbs:
Stealing money from the company lead to her being fired.
She becomes her in the noun phrase after the verb. The subject has been removed from the first noun phrase.
They didn't listen to their teacher.
They failed the class.
There is a cause and effect connection between these two sentences.
Verbs:
Not listening to their teacher resulted in them failing the class.
They becomes them in the noun phrase after the verb. The subject has been removed from the first noun phrase.
With conjunctions, it is easier to just remove the subject pronoun:
Due to stealing money from the company, she was fired.
As a result of not listening to their teacher, they failed the class.
