What you'll learn
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to turn verbs and adjectives into nouns to make your writing more formal.
When do I use it?
Nominalisation replaces a verb or adjective with a noun, making text more abstract and formal:
- "They analysed the data" → "The analysis of the data revealed..." (verb → noun)
- "The price increased" → "There was an increase in the price." (verb → noun)
- "The report is reliable" → "The reliability of the report is clear." (adjective → noun)
Common noun endings: -tion/-sion, -ment, -ness, -ity, -ance/-ence, -al.
How do I form it?
verb + -tion/-sion/-ment → noun adjective + -ness/-ity/-ance → noun
- decide → decision, explain → explanation, improve → improvement
- happy → happiness, possible → possibility, important → importance
- "Their decision to invest was wise." (from decide)
- "The possibility of failure worried us." (from possible)
Common mistakes for Spanish speakers
Spanish nominalises with the same endings (-ción, -dad, -encia), so the concept is easy — the trap is choosing the WRONG English ending: "existance" is wrong (existence), "necesarity" is wrong (necessity), "developement" is wrong (development). Learn the correct noun for each word. Also, nominalisation can make text heavy — use it in formal writing but keep verbs in speech: prefer "we analysed" over "we performed an analysis of" in conversation.
Verb/adjective + -tion/-ment/-ness/-ity → noun. Check the spelling of each one.
Practice
Multiple Choice
C1Which is the correct noun form?
Fill in the Blank
C1The of sleep is well known.
Hint: The noun form of 'important' is 'importance'.
Find the Error
C1Sentence Transformation
C1Task: Rewrite with the noun 'improvement'
Hint: Use the noun 'improvement' + 'in'.
Practice Speaking
Apply what you've learned in a real conversation with AI feedback.
Level: C1