ACADEMIC WRITING – NOMINALISATION

These apples and those apples do not differ very much in terms of taste. (VP) -> In terms of taste,
there is not much difference between these and those apples. (NP)

We analysed the results and it turned out that... (VP) -> The analysis of the results showed…(NP)

The fact that she is addicted to work means that…  -> Her workaholism means that…

We did it to find out who murdered the wife of the President (VP) -> The purpose was the
identification of the murderer. (NP)

We did it to find out who murdered the wife of the President -> The purpose was the identification
of the murderer.

Further examples and a little theory can be found at http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/academic/3b.html


Task 1

Nominalise the following sentences:

Example 1: Names of certain animals (e.g. fish) do not change in the plural. -> There is no change
in the plural of certain animals’ names (e.g. fish).

Example 2: Germany invaded Poland in 1939, which immediately caused the Second World War to break
out. -> Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939 was the immediate cause of the outbreak of the Second
World War.

a) The public opposes genetically modified food in this country.

b) As the population in the country grows, this means that many people are unemployed.

c) The University appreciates that lecturers use special software to identify when students
plagiarise their assignments.

d) When a body reaches an abnormally low temperature, the person has to be taken to hospital.

e) In her essay, she wrote how the army protected civilians in the region.

f) Euthanasia is important because it is concerned with human rights.

g) He hates women and so he is reluctant to marry.

h) Birds fly and that is essential if they want to survive.

i) They were frustrated because they found that none of their reading list titles were available.

j) We need to approach texts interactively in order to read between the lines.

k) We analysed the data from the experiment, which revealed that there were different trends.

(adapted from ŠTĚPÁNEK, L., de HAAFF, J. and Hradilová, A. Akademická angličtina. Praha: Grada,
2011, p.51)


THE PASSIVE

Task 2

Change the verbs in bold into the passive and change the sentences correspondingly.

Example: We studied the growth of bacteria. -> The growth of bacteria was studied.

a) We dissolved one sample prior to thermal treatment.

b)  We should reject this conclusion for two reasons.

c)  We would never have published this book without additional financial support from the Nansen
Institute.

d) A new satellite, which we will launch next month, will detect global pollution.

e) To preserve originality of thinking, we have kept editing of all chapters to a minimum.

f) Experts presented and discussed a total of ten innovative papers during the two-day workshop
sessions.

g) Human activities can partly cause climate change and a number of other environmental problems.

h) They say with a monotonous regularity that the collapse of the World Trade Centre´s twin towers
changed the world.

i) Scientists widely interpret this as an elaboration of Darwinism in which we think of species as
modifying the biosphere.

(adapted from ŠTĚPÁNEK, L., de HAAFF, J. and Hradilová, A. Akademická angličtina. Praha: Grada,
2011, p.59)