Nominalisation in formal English

Nominalisation turns a verb or adjective into a noun: decide → decision, analyse → analysis, available → availability. This gives writers a way to treat an action, process or quality as a thing they can discuss. It is common in academic, administrative and professional writing, but it is not automatically more sophisticated. Used selectively, it builds cohesion; used repeatedly, it can hide who did what.

The team reduced emissions by 15%.
The reduction in emissions followed a change in equipment.

In the second sentence, the reduction points back to the whole action and lets the paragraph continue with that action as its topic. This is useful when each sentence develops an idea from the previous one.

How nominal forms are made

Many nouns use suffixes, but the spelling is not fully predictable:

Some forms change spelling or stress; others are irregular. Check a dictionary when in doubt. Also learn the preposition that belongs to the noun: an analysis of the evidence, a response to the complaint, a reduction in spending. The preposition after a noun is not always the one used after its related verb.

What happens to the people in the sentence?

A verb makes agency visible: The council inspected the site. A noun can remove the actor: An inspection of the site was carried out. That can be appropriate if the inspection itself is the topic or the actor is unknown. If responsibility matters, retain it: The council’s inspection identified three hazards.

Nominalisation can also make cause and effect easier to connect: The company approved the new process. This approval allowed production to resume. But a chain of abstract nouns can obscure the action:

Heavy: Implementation of the development of the revised process required approval.
Clearer: The team had to develop the revised process, then obtain approval before implementing it.

The clearer version uses verbs to show who acted and in what order.

Noun phrases and the danger of stacking

A noun can be followed by of, to, for or another phrase: the decision to close the branch, the need for further research, the reduction of waste. This gives concise descriptions, but too many nouns before the main verb burden the reader: regional service capacity development strategy is hard to unpack. Spread the information across a clause: The region needs a strategy to develop its capacity to provide services.

Nominal forms can also differ in countability and meaning. Research is generally uncountable; a study is countable. Experience may mean knowledge gained over time (uncountable) or a particular event (countable). Before adding a/an or a plural ending, check how the noun is used.

A useful editing question

When a sentence feels abstract, ask whether the reader needs the action or the idea as a topic. If the actor and action are central, use a verb. If the action itself connects to the next sentence, a noun may help. Effective formal writing moves between the two rather than turning every verb into an abstract noun.

Choosing between of, possessives and a direct verb

A nominalised action often needs a phrase to identify its agent or object:

The council’s inspection of the site identified three hazards.
An inspection of the site by the council identified three hazards.
The council inspected the site and identified three hazards.

The possessive is compact when the agent is a person or organisation. Of often introduces the thing affected: an analysis of the evidence, the destruction of the files. A by phrase can name the agent in a passive-style noun phrase, but it becomes cumbersome if several relationships are stacked.

Some derived nouns name an action; others name its result, state or instance. A reduction in spending can refer to the process or the amount reduced. A decision names the outcome of deciding, while a discussion names an event. This is why suffix alone does not tell you whether a noun is countable or what preposition it takes.

A useful revision technique is to turn a dense noun phrase back into a clause, identify the actor, then decide whether the actor matters. The implementation of the revised policy by local teams began in July becomes Local teams began implementing the revised policy in July. If the policy itself is the topic, the nominal version may still be appropriate; if the teams’ action is the point, the verb is clearer.

Sources

• Cambridge Dictionary: Nouns formed from other words
• Cambridge Dictionary: Detached, impersonal style