CEFR C1 · 5 min
Immigration paperwork taught me nominalisation before I knew the word for it. On every form: ‘the application’ (not ‘I applied’). ‘The investigation is ongoing’ (not ‘they are investigating’). ‘Upon the arrival of’ (not ‘when someone arrives’). Bureaucracy runs on nouns — and so does academic English. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.
Today's focus: Nominalisation: turning verbs and adjectives into nouns for formal effect
Common noun suffixes:
| Verb/Adjective | Noun |
|---|---|
| decide → | decision (-ion) |
| develop → | development (-ment) |
| perform → | performance (-ance) |
| arrive → | arrival (-al) |
| investigate → | investigation (-ion) |
| accurate → | accuracy (-cy) |
Effect: makes writing more compact, formal, and less personal. But don’t overuse it — over-nominalization makes writing dense and hard to read.
Examples in context
Try it — click to reveal the answer
▶ Nominalise: ‘They decided to close the school.’
‘Decide’ → ‘decision’ (-ion). ‘Close’ → ‘closure’ (-ure). Note how the subject of the verb disappears — this is typical of formal passive nominalisation.
▶ Which is more formal? (a) ‘We investigated the complaint.’ (b) ‘An investigation into the complaint was conducted.’
Neither is wrong. (a) is clearer and more direct. (b) is appropriate for formal reports, legal documents, and academic writing.
▶ Spot the over-nominalisation: ‘The utilisation of the implementation of the modification produced a resultant enhancement.’
Orwell’s rule applies: if nominalisation makes your sentence harder to understand, it is making your writing worse, not better.
Nominalisation makes writing formal and compact — but clarity beats formality. Use nouns when the actor is unimportant and the action is the focus. Use verbs when clarity matters more than register.
Independent project; not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Confers no qualification. Cambridge CELTA course completed — 120 supervised teaching hours and four written assignments validated to the required standard.