Turning verbs into nouns (fail→failure, assess→assessment), when it sharpens prose and when it kills it
I can nominalize for cohesion and denominalize for clarity in academic prose.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
The committee's rejection of the proposal surprised nobody who had read it.
The committee's rejection of the proposal surprised nobody who had read it.
Instead of 'the optimization of the utilization of resources', just write: use resources better.
Instead of 'the optimization of the utilization of resources', just write: use resources better.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
The suffix toolkit and the trade-off:
| Suffix | Examples |
|---|---|
| -tion/-sion | apply→application, decide→decision |
| -ment | assess→assessment, develop→development |
| -ence/-ance | occur→occurrence, resist→resistance |
| -ity / -ness | scarce→scarcity, robust→robustness |
| zero-derived | increase, decrease, rise (verb = noun) |
Good: packs given information into a subject — This failure led to... Bad: zombie chains — the implementation of the utilization of... → use the verb.
Apply this grammar in C1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesStacked -tion chains
Two max; then revert to verbs
Noun/verb stress pairs confused
'record/'increase nouns front-stressed
The committee's rejection of the proposal surprised nobody who had read it.
The committee's rejection of the proposal surprised nobody who had read it.
Useful nominalization: packs the event into a subject.
Instead of 'the optimization of the utilization of resources', just write: use resources better.
Instead of 'the optimization of the utilization of resources', just write: use resources better.
The zombie chain and its cure.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in C1 course exercises