Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Formation of nouns (nominalisation)

175

Nouns can be formed from other parts of speech, most commonly verbs. For example, the

verb fly can be converted into the nouns flying and flight. The adjectives bright and long form

the nouns brightness and length. The process is called nominalisation. The nominalised

form is used more in written and formal contexts:

We 

fly at seven o’clock this evening.

Our 

flight is at seven o’clock this evening.

Mr Hamson 

donated £2000.

Mr Hamson made a 

donation of £2000.

I was dazzled by the extremely 

bright lights.

I was dazzled by the extreme 

brightness of the lights.

They 

partied all night and we decided to complain to the hotel.

We decided to make a 

complaint to the hotel about their all-night parties.

In each example here, the second sentence contains one or more nominalised forms. This

results in a more formal expression of the equivalent meaning in a different word class. 

Sometimes the noun is derived from another part of speech to which it is related. Sometimes

the noun is formed metaphorically rather than derived (morphologically) from another part

of speech:

They were able to 

get to the computer once a week.

Access to the computer was once a week.

Mobile phones are 

getting much better technically.

There have been many technical 

advances with mobile phones.

Nominalised forms can sometimes be used without reference to an agent and in certain

contexts this can mean the cause or agent can be concealed or made less important:

The 

closure of the factory caused 200 workers to lose their jobs.

(compare: Meteorcorp closed the factory and 200 workers lost their jobs.)

The 

dismissal of the union leaders was immediate.

(compare: The director of the company dismissed the union leaders immediately.)

Another type of nominalised structure, common in everyday usage, is the delexical verb

phrase + noun phrase structure. Delexical verbs include go, get, make, do, take (

Û

475a

).

Delexical structures often offer an informal equivalent to a full lexical verb phrase:

They 

got a divorce in 1998.

(compare the more formal: They divorced in 1998.)

He hasn’t 

done any painting since he retired.

(compare: He has not painted since he retired.)

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142 Nominalisation in Grammar and academic English

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

The noun phrase | 333

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Nouns and determiners

Introduction

176

Count nouns

177

Count nouns and determiners 177a

Count nouns: same singular and

plural forms 177b

Sort of, type of, kind of, class of +

count noun 177c

Non-count nouns

178

General 178a

Singular non-count nouns 178b

Non-count nouns ending in -s 178c

Plural non-count nouns 178d