What is Nominalisation? How to nominalise a sentence in academic writing.

Summary

This video presentation introduces nominalisation, the process of converting verbs or adjectives into nouns. It outlines three key reasons for using nominalisation: enhancing complex grammar structures, achieving higher abstraction and technicality, and aligning with academic writing standards. The tutorial walks viewers through identifying main verbs in a sentence, transforming them into nouns, and restructuring the sentence accordingly. It includes exercises for practice, such as converting verbs to nouns and rewriting sentences using nominalised forms. The video encourages viewers to engage with the provided worksheet and offers additional resources for further learning.

Takeaways

• 📘 Nominalisation is the process of converting verbs or adjectives into nouns.
• 📈 It enhances complex grammar by developing noun-phrase structures.
• 🧠 Nominalisation aids in achieving higher abstraction and technicality in writing.
• 🎓 It is a characteristic feature of academic and formal writing styles.
• 🔍 Key verbs in a sentence are identified as candidates for nominalisation.
• 📚 Use of a dictionary, like the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, is recommended to find noun forms of verbs.
• 🔄 The process involves changing verb forms to nouns and adjusting grammar accordingly.
• 📝 Practice is essential for mastering the skill of nominalisation.
• 📑 Worksheets and exercises are provided to practice turning verbs into nouns.
• 💬 The presenter encourages interaction by inviting viewers to share their sentences in the comments for review.
• 🔗 Additional resources and exercises for nominalisation are available on the provided website.

Q & A

What is nominalisation?

Nominalisation is the process of changing verbs or adjectives to nouns.

Why is nominalisation used in writing?

Nominalisation is used to develop more complex grammar noun-phrase structures, achieve a higher degree of abstraction and technicality, and it is a typical feature of academic writing.

How can one identify the main verbs in a sentence for nominalisation?

The main verbs in a sentence can be identified by looking for action words like 'analysed', 'revealed', 'react', and 'have'.

What is the first step in the nominalisation process?

The first step in the nominalisation process is to identify the main verbs in the sentence.

How can one find the noun form of a verb?

One can find the noun form of a verb by using an English-to-English dictionary like the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary.

What changes might be necessary when rewriting a sentence using nominalised verbs?

When rewriting a sentence using nominalised verbs, one might need to change other word forms, add articles and prepositions, and adjust the grammar to make the nouns fit grammatically.

What is the purpose of Exercise 1 in the worksheet?

Exercise 1 is designed to build up verb-to-noun knowledge by changing verbs into nouns, making nominalisation a more natural process.

How many common academic verbs are there in Exercise 1?

There are 26 common academic verbs listed in Exercise 1.

What is the aim of Exercise 2 in the worksheet?

Exercise 2 aims to practice nominalising sentences by identifying the main verbs, exchanging them for nouns, and rewriting the sentence.

What is the structure of a noun phrase?

The structure of a noun phrase typically includes a determiner, an adjective, and a noun.

What is the purpose of Exercise 3 in the guided writing section?

Exercise 3 is designed to practice completing sentences that start with provided noun phrases, focusing on context and grammatical structure.

Where can one find more information and exercises on nominalisation?

More information and exercises on nominalisation can be found at https://www.academic-englishuk.com/nominalisation.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Nominalisation

This paragraph introduces the concept of nominalisation in academic writing. Nominalisation is the process of converting verbs or adjectives into nouns, which helps to develop complex grammar structures, achieve higher abstraction and technicality, and is a common feature in academic texts. The paragraph encourages viewers to download a worksheet for practice and provides a basic example of how nominalisation can improve a sentence. It guides viewers to identify main verbs in a sentence, nominalize them by finding their noun forms in a dictionary, and then rewrite the sentence using these nouns. The paragraph also introduces Exercise 1, which is a word form activity to help build a verb-to-noun knowledge base.

05:06

📝 Nominalisation Exercises and Guided Writing

Paragraph 2 continues with more exercises on nominalisation. It presents Exercise 2, which involves identifying main verbs in a sentence, replacing them with their noun forms, and rewriting the sentence. The paragraph provides a possible answer and emphasizes that there are multiple correct ways to perform nominalisation. It also introduces Exercise 3, which is a guided writing activity where participants are given noun phrases (sentence heads) and must complete the sentences while paying attention to context and grammatical structure. The paragraph concludes by inviting viewers to share their sentences in the comments for review and directs them to a website for more practice and information on academic writing and grammar.

Keywords

💡Nominalisation

Nominalisation refers to the linguistic process of converting verbs or adjectives into nouns. In the context of the video, nominalisation is a key technique in academic writing that allows for the development of complex noun-phrase structures, enhancing the text's abstraction and technicality. For example, the video script illustrates nominalisation by transforming the verb 'analysed' into the noun 'analysis', demonstrating how it contributes to a more formal and academic tone.

💡Abstraction

Abstraction in language refers to the use of terms that represent concepts or ideas that are not concrete or specific. The video emphasizes that nominalisation helps achieve a higher degree of abstraction, which is crucial for academic writing as it allows for the discussion of complex ideas in a more general or theoretical manner. The script uses the process of nominalisation to illustrate how sentences can be restructured to convey abstract concepts rather than specific actions.

💡Academic Writing

Academic writing is a formal style of expression used in scholarly and educational contexts, characterized by its precision, objectivity, and the use of complex grammatical structures. The video discusses nominalisation as a typical feature of academic writing, highlighting its importance in constructing sentences that are more formal and suitable for academic discourse. The exercises provided in the script are designed to help viewers practice nominalisation, a skill that is particularly relevant to academic writing.

💡Noun-Phrase Structure

A noun-phrase structure is a grammatical construction that includes a noun and its modifiers, which can be other words or phrases that provide additional information about the noun. The video explains that nominalisation contributes to the development of more complex noun-phrase structures, which are essential for academic writing. The script provides examples of how verbs are nominalized and then integrated into noun phrases to create a more sophisticated sentence structure.

💡Verb-to-Noun Conversion

Verb-to-noun conversion is the process of changing a verb into a noun, which is a key aspect of nominalisation. The video script provides an exercise where viewers are asked to convert verbs into their corresponding nouns, demonstrating the practical application of this concept. This conversion is shown to be a critical step in the nominalisation process, as it allows for the creation of more complex and abstract sentences in academic writing.

💡Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary

The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary is a comprehensive English language reference tool mentioned in the video as a resource for identifying noun forms of verbs. The script suggests using this dictionary to assist with the nominalisation process, particularly when one is unsure of the noun form of a verb. This highlights the importance of reliable language resources in academic writing and language learning.

💡Exercise

In the context of the video, exercises are practical tasks designed to help viewers apply the concept of nominalisation. The script outlines several exercises, including converting verbs to nouns and rewriting sentences using nominalised forms. These exercises are integral to the video's educational purpose, providing viewers with opportunities to practice and reinforce their understanding of nominalisation in academic writing.

💡Grammar

Grammar refers to the systematic rules and structures that govern the composition of sentences in a language. The video discusses how nominalisation involves complex grammar, particularly in the formation of noun-phrases. The script provides examples of how grammar is manipulated to accommodate the use of nominalised forms, emphasizing the importance of grammatical knowledge in academic writing.

💡Technicality

Technicality in writing refers to the use of specialized language and terminology that is precise and specific to a particular field of study. The video mentions that nominalisation helps achieve a higher degree of technicality, which is essential for academic writing to convey information accurately and professionally. The script demonstrates how nominalisation contributes to the technical language used in academic texts.

💡Sentence Head

A sentence head, as mentioned in the video, is a noun phrase that serves as the starting point for constructing a sentence. The script includes an exercise where viewers are provided with sentence heads and must complete the sentences, focusing on context and grammatical structure. This exercise illustrates the importance of understanding how noun phrases function as the foundation for more complex sentences in academic writing.

Highlights

Nominalisation is the process of changing verbs or adjectives to nouns.

Nominalisation develops complex grammar noun-phrase structures.

It helps achieve a higher degree of abstraction and technicality.

Nominalisation is typical in academic writing.

The first step in nominalisation is to identify main verbs.

Key verbs in a sentence can be nominalized to enhance the sentence.

Use an English-to-English dictionary to find noun forms of verbs.

Examples of nominalised verbs: 'analysed' becomes 'analysis', 'react' becomes 'reaction'.

Rewrite sentences using nominalised nouns, adjusting grammar and word forms.

Exercise 1 focuses on changing verbs to nouns to build nominalisation knowledge.

Provided table lists 26 common academic verbs for nominalisation practice.

Exercise 2.1 guides in nominalising sentences by replacing verbs with nouns.

Exercise 2.2 is another opportunity to practice nominalising sentences.

Guided writing exercise (Exercise 3) involves finishing sentences with noun phrases.

The presenter offers to check audience's sentences in the comments for practice.

For more practice on nominalisation, a paid download is available.

The video concludes with a brief overview and resources for further learning.

Transcripts

Hello and welcome to this short video  presentation on nominalisation. Before I begin,  

there is a worksheet that accompanies this video,  

so pause this slide now and download it.  The link is in the description below.

Ok, so let’s begin. What is nominalisation?  

Nominalisation is the process of  changing verbs or adjectives to nouns.

why use nominalisation? Well,  there are three main reasons: 

1) The nominalisation grammatical process develops  more complex grammar noun-phrase structures. 

2) Nominalisation helps achieve a higher  degree of abstraction and technicality. 

3) Nominalisation is a typical  feature of academic writing.

So, let’s begin by looking at  an example sentence and how the  

process works. Here is a basic sentence:  We analysed the data from the experiment,  

and it revealed that children react  when they have too much sugar.

This type of sentence is ok but could be improved  

by a process of changing the verbs  to nouns known as ‘nominalisation’.

The first part of the nominalisation process  is to identify the main verbs: these are here: 

analysed / revealed / react / have .  The next part is to identify which verbs  

can be nominalized. The key verbs in  this sentence are ‘analysed’ and ‘react’.

The next step is to change these verbs to  nouns. If you are not sure you can use an  

English-to-English dictionary like the Oxford  advanced learners dictionary to help you.  

The link is in the description below and on the  worksheet. Here on the website, just put the verb  

into the search box and in the dictionary  definition of the verb, look to the right  

and here are some of its word forms – the noun of  analyse is analysis. Just a small disclaimer tho,  

it doesn’t always show all the word forms and  you may need to use a variety of dictionaries.

Ok, so here are the two words  Analysed = analysis / React = reaction

Now you rewrite the sentence using these  nouns. You may need to change other word forms,  

add articles and prepositions and change the  grammar to make the nouns fit grammatically.

Here is my sentence – and you can  see how the nouns have been used.  

Perhaps pause the slide and look at my changes.

Now that leads me onto Exercise 1 and all  of these exercises are in the worksheet.

Exercise 1 is a word form or word class activity  to change verbs into nouns. It’s really important  

to build up verb-to-noun knowledge to make  nominalisation a more of a natural process.

So, in this table there are  26 common academic verbs  

and I’d like you to pause the slide and try  to add the corresponding nouns for each verb.  

You can use a dictionary as mentioned  before. Please pause the slide now.

Ok here are the answers. Pause  the slide and check your answers

So, I hope you did well. It’s not  easy and it’ll take time to learn.

Now we’ll move onto the next activity. Exercise 2.

Exercise 2 is to nominalise these sentences.  

Exercise 2.1 Read the sentence  below and identify the main verbs,  

exchange these for nouns and rewrite the  sentence. Pause the slide and do this exercise.

Here is a possible answer. There are many ways  to write this so if yours is completely different  

than mine I’m sure its’s fine too.. Pause  the slide and compare to your sentence.

Here are the key changes made.  

And here is the structure of noun phrase.

Ok now another exercise to nominalise a sentence.  

Exercise 2.2. the same again. Read the  sentence below, identify the main verbs,  

exchange these for nouns and rewrite the  sentence. Pause the slide and do this exercise.

Here is a possible answer. Pause  the slide to compare to yours.

Here are the key changes made. And here  is the structure of the noun phrase.

Great, I hope that was helpful. It’s not  easy at first but practice really helps.  

If you want more practice then go to our  paying download – link in description below.

Ok, now let’s try something different. Exercise  3 is guided writing. I will provide two sentences  

– called ‘sentence heads’. These are noun phrases  and all you have to do is finish off the sentence.  

Pay attention to the context , or the meaning of  the sentence head and the grammatical structure.

So, pause the slide and  finish off these sentences.

Ok, here are my answers. Again, these  are sample answers and there are many  

alternatives. Pause the slide and  compare your sentences to mine.

Actually, you’re all very welcome to put  any of your sentences from this lesson today  

in the comments below and  I’ll check them when I can.

Well, that’s the end of the video today and I  hoped you enjoyed it. It was a brief overview  

of nominalisation and if you would like more  practice, then you can go to the webpage here:  

https://www.academic-englishuk.com/nominalisation  for more information and more exercises.

Of course, for more information on all  areas of academic writing and grammar.  

Then please go here: / writing

Until next time, thanks for watching. Goodbye.