1 What Is Nominalisation?: Example: How Old Do You Have To Be To Hire A Car? What Is The Minimum Age For Hiring A Car?
1 What Is Nominalisation?: Example: How Old Do You Have To Be To Hire A Car? What Is The Minimum Age For Hiring A Car?
1 What Is Nominalisation?: Example: How Old Do You Have To Be To Hire A Car? What Is The Minimum Age For Hiring A Car?
It is ofien possible to use a noun group instead of one or more verb or adjective groups. This is called
'nominalisation': The boys laughed loudly and woke up the baby. (= This sentence consists of two actions
(verb groups), one causing the other) The boys' loud laughter woke up the baby. (= This sentence has
one thing - the boys' loud laughter (a noun group) - that causes an action)
It can change the emphasis of the sentence. Compare: 1 wasn't voy well so 1 had to stay at
home. My poor health meant I had to stay at home. (= nominalised) The first sentence has two
parts linked by so. Both parts are equally important. In the nominalised version, the action - stay
at home - is the focus of the sentence.
Because a lot of information can be packed into a noun group, it can make sentences shorter
and leave the rest of the sentence free to add new information: USUAL: He had an insatiable
appetite for adventure and because of this he became involved in a pioneering expedition to
Antarctica. NOMINALISED: His insatiable appetite for adventure led to his involvement in a
pioneering expedition to Antarctica.
It can refer back to processes already mentioned: After several days they eventually reached the
summit of the mountain. The ascent left them tired and exhausted. (= Here the ascent
summarises the whole of the process in the previous sentence)
We often prefer to start a sentence with a noun phrase rather than a verb phrase. Compare:
They looked at the evidence and realised that there had been a miscarriage of justice. The
evidence revealed that there had been a miscarriage of justice. (= nominalised)
Nominalised language is especially typical of formal, scientific and academic English: This
interesting Australian development was possible because of the isolation of these primitive
mammal.
Nominalisation can make it easier to be impersonal. Compare: lt's always painful when people
criticise you. Criticism is always painful. (= nominalised)
We use a number of verbs, e.g. look, laugh, comment, etc., as nouns with verbs such as give, have,
make, take: He gave a short laugh. Let`s have a quick look. She made some remark about his smelly
feet. We do this especially if we want to use an adjective before the noun - this is more common
than using a verb and adverbial phrase: We had a long talk about it. Sometimes there is no
comparable adverbial phrase: She sat down and had a good cry. This is partly a matter of
collocation: give a shout / sigh / hug / welcome / look have a look / belief/ chat /fall / sleep have
belief/ respect take a look / bath / walk /photograph / holiday make a comment / start / claim make
progress
2. Fill the gaps in these sentences with a form of one of these verbs: give/ make/ take/ have a
3. Finish each of the following sentences in such a way that it is as dose as possible in
meaning to the sentence printed before it.
e) I explained what had happened but they totally refused to accept what I said.
There is only a brief report to the problem of inner-city crime in the article.
There was a general approvance of the decision to implement tougher parking restrictions.
4. Rewrite each sentence using ail the prompt words printed below it.
Example: A lot of people have complained in writing to us about how bad the food was.
We have received a large number of written complaints about the poor standard of the food.
a) I'm shocked that most members have responded so negatively to what we proposed.
e) It's distinctly possible that she will not recover from her illness very rapidly.
distinct / rapid
There is a distinct possibility that she will not make a rapid recovery from her illness.
suffers / of
She suffers from (a) lack of confidence.
h) I really did intend to try harder this term, but I haven't succeeded.