Nominalizations: how to wake up zombie nouns
When a verb is turned into a noun, the action of the sentence goes into hiding. Restoring the verb usually makes the sentence shorter, clearer, and easier to follow.
A nominalization is a noun made from a verb or an adjective. Decide becomes decision. Investigate becomes investigation. Fail becomes failure. Careful becomes carefulness. English makes these nouns easily, often with endings like -tion, -ment, -ance, -ence, -ity, -al, and -ness.
Nothing is wrong with these words themselves. The trouble starts when a nominalization takes over the job the verb should be doing. Writers sometimes call them “zombie nouns”: the action is still there, but it has stopped moving.
What happens to the sentence
Compare these two:
Before: The board made a decision to postpone the vote.
After: The board decided to postpone the vote.
In the Before version, the real action (deciding) has become a noun, decision. The sentence then needs a weak verb, made, to hold it up. The result is one extra word and one less-direct sentence.
That is the pattern. A nominalization usually needs a helper verb like make, give, take, have, conduct, perform, provide, or carry out, and often a preposition or two as well. Each nominalization adds a little weight. Several in one sentence add a lot.
Before: The committee conducted an investigation into the cause of the failure of the system and provided a recommendation for the improvement of the process.
After: The committee investigated why the system failed and recommended how to improve the process.
The Before version has four nominalizations (investigation, failure, recommendation, improvement) and five uses of “of” or “into” or “for”. The After version restores the verbs, and the prepositions mostly disappear.
Common nominalizations and their verbs
| Nominalization | Verb |
|---|---|
| make a decision | decide |
| conduct an analysis | analyze |
| give consideration to | consider |
| reach an agreement | agree |
| make an assumption | assume |
| perform an assessment | assess |
| provide assistance | help, assist |
| take action | act |
| have a discussion | discuss |
| make a recommendation | recommend |
| carry out an evaluation | evaluate |
| is in compliance with | complies with |
| make a payment | pay |
| submit an application | apply |
| is dependent on | depends on |
The Op-Ed Insight nominalization list has a longer set, each paired with its verb.
Why nominalizations bloat
There are three effects, and they compound.
More words. “Make a decision” is three words; “decide” is one. Across a page, this adds up.
Hidden actors. Nominalizations make it easy to drop the person doing the action. “The implementation of the policy will begin in June” does not say who will implement it. “We will put the policy in place in June” does. This is similar to the way the passive voice hides actors, and the two often appear together. See active vs. passive voice.
Abstract subjects. When the subject of a sentence is an abstract noun like implementation or consideration, the reader has nothing concrete to picture. Sentences with people or things as subjects are easier to follow.
Before: Consideration of the proposal by the committee will take place after the completion of the budget review.
After: The committee will consider the proposal after it finishes reviewing the budget.
How to find them
Look for:
- Nouns ending in -tion, -sion, -ment, -ance, -ence, -ity, -al. Not all are nominalizations, but many are.
- Weak verbs like make, give, take, have, conduct, perform, provide. Check what noun follows them.
- “The ___ of” patterns. “The analysis of the data”, “the removal of the barriers”. These often hide a verb.
- “There is” or “there was” followed by an abstract noun. “There was a reduction in costs” means “Costs fell”.
Once you find one, ask: who is doing what? Make that person the subject and the action the verb.
Before: There was a significant reduction in costs following the introduction of the new supplier.
After: Costs fell sharply after we switched suppliers.
When the noun is the right choice
Nominalizations are not errors. Many are the best word for the job.
When the noun names a concept. “Inflation”, “education”, “democracy”, and “evolution” are nominalizations, but they are also the names of things people discuss. “Inflation rose” is not improved by rewriting it around a verb.
When you refer back to an action already described. Once you have said “We tested the software for three weeks”, the next sentence can use “The testing showed…” The noun gathers the previous action into a single thing the reader can follow.
Tip: A nominalization often works well as a summary at the start of a sentence, linking back to the one before. “The committee voted to close the branch. This decision affects 40 staff.”
When it is a fixed term. Legal, medical, and technical fields have defined terms that happen to be nominalizations: termination, diagnosis, installation. Use the defined term.
When the actor really does not matter. In a list of features, “Automatic backup” may be clearer than “The app backs up your files automatically”, depending on the format.
A balance, not a purge
The aim is not to eliminate nominalizations but to make sure the main action of each sentence lives in a verb. A sentence can contain a nominalization or two and still read well, as long as a strong verb carries it.
When editing, scan for weak helper verbs and abstract subjects. Where you find one, try the verb version. If the result is shorter and clearer, keep it. If it sounds forced, the noun may have been the right choice after all.