Lesson
Grammar: Nominalisation for an academic style
Turn verbs and adjectives into nouns to write the concise, formal sentences that Band 7+ essays are made of, without making them impossible to read.
What is nominalisation?
It means expressing an action or quality as a noun instead of a verb or adjective. Academic writing uses it to pack more information into fewer words and to sound more objective.
Academic style: The rapid growth of the population created a need for more housing.
Academic style: The government's decision to raise fees led to student protests.
Common patterns
| Verb / adjective | Noun |
|---|---|
| reduce | reduction |
| develop | development |
| fail | failure |
| rely (on) | reliance (on) |
| expand | expansion |
| analyse | analysis |
| available | availability |
| important | importance |
| able | ability |
| decide | decision |
Don't overdo it
Too many nouns in a row make writing heavy and unclear, and that lowers Coherence.
Better: The council considered introducing a plan to reduce waste.
Use nominalisation where it makes a sentence shorter and clearer, especially in topic sentences and conclusions.
Questions 1–6
Write the noun form of each word.
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reduce →
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fail →
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rely →
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expand →
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available →
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analyse →
Questions 7–10
Choose the best answer.
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Which is the best academic version of "Because the population grew quickly, the city needed more housing"?
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Which is the best academic version of "When the government decided to raise fees, students protested"?
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Which is the best academic version of "If schools do not provide enough computers, students cannot learn digital skills"?
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Which sentence overuses nominalisation and is hard to read?
Questions 11–13
Complete the second sentence so it means the same as the first. Write ONE WORD.
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People are worried that crime is increasing. → There is growing concern about the in crime.
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Tourism has developed rapidly in the region. → The region has seen the rapid of tourism.
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It is important to sleep well. → The of sleep cannot be overstated.
