Nominalisation

Nominalisation is the process of changing a verb or a clause into a noun. It is commonly used in academic writing, making the writing more concise and dense. For example:
Fishing companies have been depleting the fish stocks.
The depletion of fish stocks...

A.Instructions: Change the verbs into nouns.

Verbs	Nouns		
developed			
implement			
taking			
exercise			

B. Instructions: Use the words above to help you nominalise the sentences below. You may also have to change other words in the sentence. The first one has been done for you.

   1. It says a range of national policies could be developed to influence food supply and buying patterns.
      Development of a range of national policies could influence food supply and buying patterns.

   2. They would be too complicated to implement.

   3. Something people have suggested in the past is taking GST off fruit and vegetables.

   4. You can reduce weight if you exercise more.

C. Instructions: Look at the sentence below. Do you think the shaded area could be made more like written text? Choose a suitable answer from the box, or make up your own and rewrite the whole sentence.

Do you see how nominalisation makes writing more concise and less like conversation?