Nominalization: Turning Verbs and Adjectives into Nouns— C1 Grammar Exercises
Published March 23, 2026
Exercise 1 — Gap Fill Select
The of the new policy will affect all employees.
Her to detail makes her an excellent editor.
The of the project was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances.
They discussed the of the new regulations at length.
Her in the debate was clear and persuasive.
The of the new system will take several months.
His of the issue was very insightful.
The of the contract was postponed until next week.
The of the team was evident after their victory.
The of the new technology surprised everyone.
"The company decided to cut costs, which made employees angry." Now read the same idea in a research report: "The company's decision to cut costs provoked employee anger." Same content, completely different register. Two verbs (decided, made) and one adjective (angry) have become nouns, and the sentence has tightened and shifted upward in formality. That move is nominalization.
This is the defining feature of formal written English: academic papers, government reports, journalism, legal texts, business writing. At C1, the goal is to use it deliberately: form the noun correctly, restructure the surrounding sentence, and know when nominalizing sharpens your writing versus when it makes it heavy.
How to form nominalized nouns
Most nominalizations are built with suffixes. The suffix depends on the verb or adjective family, and at C1 you're expected to recognise the main patterns. The tables below set out the most productive ones; for the wider system see advanced word formation.
From verbs
| Suffix | Verb → Noun | Example in context |
|---|---|---|
| -tion / -sion / -ation | decide → decision, discuss → discussion, explain → explanation | The explanation was rejected by the committee. |
| -sis (Greek origin) | analyse → analysis, synthesise → synthesis, diagnose → diagnosis | The analysis revealed an unexpected pattern. |
| -ment | achieve → achievement, develop → development, assess → assessment | Recent developments have changed the picture. |
| -al | arrive → arrival, propose → proposal, refuse → refusal | Her refusal to comment raised suspicions. |
| -ance / -ence | resist → resistance, prefer → preference, exist → existence | Local resistance to the plan grew quickly. |
| -ure | fail → failure, depart → departure, close → closure | The closure of the factory affected hundreds. |
| -y / -ery | discover → discovery, recover → recovery, deliver → delivery | The recovery took longer than expected. |
| Zero suffix (same form) | increase → an increase, change → a change, attempt → an attempt | There has been a sharp increase in applications. |
| -ing (gerund as noun) | plan → the planning, train → the training | The training of new staff takes six weeks. |
From adjectives
| Suffix | Adjective → Noun | Example in context |
|---|---|---|
| -ity / -ty | able → ability, complex → complexity, safe → safety | The complexity of the system surprised analysts. |
| -ness | aware → awareness, kind → kindness, weak → weakness | Public awareness of the issue has grown. |
| -ence / -ance | important → importance, different → difference, confident → confidence | The importance of the finding cannot be overstated. |
| -cy | accurate → accuracy, fluent → fluency, urgent → urgency | The accuracy of the data was questioned. |
| Irregular | strong → strength, long → length, deep → depth, wide → width, true → truth | The depth of the analysis was impressive. |
What happens to the sentence around the noun
Nominalization isn't just a vocabulary swap. When a verb becomes a noun, the structure around it has to change. The subject, object, and modifiers of the verb get re-expressed as possessives, prepositional phrases, or adjectives. Understanding this transformation is the difference between fluent use and odd-sounding sentences.
| Verb element | Becomes after nominalization |
|---|---|
| Subject of the verb | Possessive ('s) or by + agent |
| Object of the verb | of + noun phrase |
| Adverb modifying the verb | Adjective modifying the noun |
| Tense and modality on the verb | Lost, or signalled by surrounding context |
Watch the transformation step by step.
Nominalized version: The government's rapid decision to close the schools…
Subject (government) → possessive. Adverb (quickly) → adjective (rapid). The main verb (decided) becomes the head noun (decision). The infinitive complement (to close) survives unchanged.
Nominalized version: The discovery of a new vaccine in 2023…
Object (vaccine) → of-phrase. The agent (scientists) can either drop out or appear as by scientists.
Nominalization pairs naturally with the advanced passive voice: both move the doer of the action out of subject position, and both shift focus from who did what to what happened.
Why writers nominalize
Nominalization does specific jobs that verb-driven sentences can't do as well.
1. Compression and information density
A noun phrase packs more into fewer words.
- Verb-driven (16 words): When the prices increased rapidly, this made people worry, and the government had to act.
- Nominalized (11 words): The rapid increase in prices caused public concern and forced government action.
Same information, tighter and more abstract. Academic and journalistic writing rewards this compression.
2. Making the action the topic
Once an event becomes a noun, you can put it in subject position and say things about it. The verb form can't carry these predications; the nominalization can.
- The decision was controversial.
- The decision came too late.
- The decision reflected wider political pressures.
3. Cohesion across sentences
Nominalization lets you take an action from one sentence and refer back to it in the next as a single concept — one of the most powerful tools in academic writing.
- The committee rejected the proposal. This rejection surprised most observers.
- Inflation rose sharply last quarter. The rise has prompted calls for intervention.
The nominalization bundles up the previous clause and makes it available as a topic. Linguists call these shell nouns or summary nouns, and they serve a similar cohesive function to discourse markers, but at the level of meaning rather than connectives.
4. Distance, objectivity, and depersonalisation
Nominalization hides the agent. We decided to terminate the contract names a doer; the decision to terminate the contract doesn't. This is useful in formal contexts where the focus is on events rather than actors, or where naming the actor would be impolitic.
- Verb: We are going to reduce the workforce.
- Nominalized: A reduction in the workforce will take place.
This is also why nominalization dominates legal, bureaucratic, and corporate language — and why critics call that language evasive. Use the agent-hiding effect deliberately, and know that readers often see through it.
The cost: when nominalization weakens writing
Nominalization is a tool, not an upgrade. Used carelessly, it produces the grey, bureaucratic prose examiners and editors dislike.
Buried verbs. When the real action sits inside a noun, the main verb becomes empty — usually make, do, conduct, carry out, perform, take place.
- The team conducted an investigation into the failure and made a determination that an extension of the deadline was necessary.
- The team investigated the failure and determined that the deadline needed to be extended.
Diagnostic checklist. If you find yourself writing any of these, look for the buried verb:
- make a decision → decide
- conduct an investigation → investigate
- carry out an analysis → analyse
- perform a review → review
- give consideration to → consider
- reach a conclusion → conclude
Vagueness. Nouns lose the tense, person, and modality that verbs carry. His resignation surprised us doesn't say when he resigned, whether he chose to, or whether it has happened yet. In academic writing this abstraction is often a feature; in argument or analysis, it can leave the reader without crucial information.
Register and context
Nominalization belongs in formal written contexts: academic essays, reports, journalism, legal documents, official correspondence. It feels stiff in conversation and informal writing.
| Formal (nominalized) | Informal (verb-driven) |
|---|---|
| The implementation of the policy met with significant resistance. | People really pushed back when we rolled out the policy. |
| Her dismissal of the proposal angered the board. | The board got angry when she dismissed the proposal. |
| An investigation into the matter is currently underway. | We're looking into it. |
| An indication of your availability would be appreciated. | Let me know when you're free. (here, the informal version is the better one; the formal version sounds pompous in a casual message) |
Neither register is "better." A research paper written in the right column sounds amateurish; a friendly email in the left column sounds bizarre. C1 writing is the skill of choosing the right column for the right reader. See formal and informal register for more on this balance.
Common mistakes
- The decidement was made yesterday. / The achievation was significant.
- The decision was made yesterday. / The achievement was significant.
- The discovery the vaccine changed medicine.
- The discovery of the vaccine changed medicine.
- The government's quickly decision surprised everyone.
- The government's quick decision surprised everyone.
- The implementation of the modification of the regulation regarding the registration of vehicles caused confusion.
- Modifying the vehicle registration rules caused confusion.
- A decision was made to terminate forty employees. (in a context where the reader needs to know who decided)
- Management decided to terminate forty employees.
- She gave me two advices. / The researches were published. / He shared some informations.
- She gave me two pieces of advice. / The research was published. / He shared some information.
Quick summary
- Nominalization turns a verb or adjective into a noun: decide → decision, complex → complexity.
- Each verb/adjective takes a specific suffix; check rather than guess. Decision, not decidement.
- When you nominalize, the subject becomes a possessive or by-phrase, the object becomes an of-phrase, and adverbs become adjectives.
- Use it for compression, to make actions the topic, for cross-sentence cohesion, and for objective distance.
- Don't use it to hide weak verbs (make a decision, conduct an investigation) when a strong verb would be sharper.
- Three or more of-linked abstract nouns in one sentence is a warning sign — rewrite with verbs.
- It belongs in formal written contexts. It is wrong, not "advanced," in informal ones.
Related topics
- Advanced passive voice: the other major tool for shifting focus away from the agent of an action.
- Formal and informal register: when nominalized prose is right, and when it sounds wrong.
- Advanced word formation: the suffix patterns that drive nominalization and other derivational families.
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