Changing verbs or other words to nouns
What is Nominalisation?
 Nominalisation is the process in which words are
changed into nouns
 It changes the focus of the text from the action to the
object or concept
 It can also be used to remove the participants, further
focusing the text on the object/concept
 Nominalisation is used in academic writing to express
the information formally
Examples of Nominalisation
 Europeans invaded
Australia and they
destroyed sacred sites.
Nouns or Noun Groups
Verbs
 The European invasion
of Australia destroyed
sacred sites
Examples of Nominalisation
 Europeans invaded
Australia and they
destroyed sacred sites.
Nouns or Noun Groups
Verbs
 The European invasion
of Australia destroyed
sacred sites
Nominalisation – How to do it?
 Look for sentences with active verbs
 E.g. Someone did something
 Think of a noun to replace the verb
(in this example “did”)
 Often, the easiest way to find a noun is to add a suffix to
the end, eg –ion, -ism, -ment

Invade – Invasion
 Another way to work out the noun is to say “ ‘something’
occurred”
Examples of Nominalisation
 Sydney City Council
decided to change the
official documents to
Invasion. Councillor
Phillip Black disagreed
and said the council
should “moderate using
emotional language”
Examples of Nominalisation
 Sydney City Council
decided to change the
official documents to
Invasion. Councillor
Phillip Black disagreed
and said the council
should “moderate using
emotional language”
 Sydney City Council’s
decision to change the
official documents was
opposed by Councillor
Phillip Black with the
advice that the council
should “moderate using
emotional language”