English for Academic Skills
Independence
[EASI]
Session 12
Grammar
Review quiz
How might you improve this sentence?
The soil was placed by the student in the furnace.
Passive voice
We do not need to know the ‘doer’ of the action:
The soil was placed by the student in the furnace.
This is better:
The soil was placed in the furnace.
Scaffolding quiz
What is a noun?
A noun is usually thought of as a naming word: a
person, animal, place, thing, quality, act or idea.
By the end of this session you will be able to…
 state the function of nominalisation
 identify and unpack nominalisations
 identify a noun group
Key concepts
The term ‘noun’ refers to one of the most important parts of speech in English
Nouns
 Concrete nouns [table, chair, student]
 Abstract nouns [friendship, loyalty]
o This category includes activities and movement
[conversation, acceleration]
o -ing forms: everyday activities [swimming, dancing]
Representing actions and processes
When we first learn English, we are taught two rules:
 nouns typically represent things or entities
 verbs typically represent actions or processes
How else can we represent actions and processes?
Representing actions and processes
We can represent actions and processes as nouns, e.g.
Verbal process
Noun
People working in factories
produce goods which are then
sold
production
This area of grammar is referred to as nominalisation
We use of nominalisation to present ideas efficiently
and economically
Representing actions and processes
The use of nominalisation also enables us to represent
qualities as a noun:
Adjective
Noun
necessary
necessity
Note that qualities are typically expressed by an
adjective
Representing actions and
processes as nouns
verb
produce
write
measure
contribute
noun
production
writing
measurement
contribution
educate
education
Pronunciation: Syllable stress
Remember the pronunciation for -ion endings:
e/du/cate
e/du/ca/tion
The primary stress falls on syllable before -ion
endings:
renovate
alleviate
communicate
stimulate
renovation
alleviation
communication
stimulation
Representing qualities as nouns
adjective
loyal
happy
necessary
angry
noun
loyalty
happiness
necessity
anger
Nominalisation: Key points
 An important feature of academic writing
 Conveys an objective and formal tone
 Allows a writer to condense a lot of information into
just one word
 Enables you to write more concisely
Nominalisation: Disadvantages
 The writing becomes more abstract
 Text is sometimes difficult to understand
Difficulties with nominalisation
Sometimes when we are reading we find it difficult to interpret
and understand the text.
This is often because the writer has used a lot of nominalisations
within a paragraph.
Read the following text, think about the meaning, and see if you
can identify the nominalized words.
Activity: Identify the nominalisations
The popularity of Facebook is obvious. However, the increase in
usage over the last five years has led to a reduction in personal
relationships and the need for systematization of maintenance.
As with other major technological developments, such as radio
and television, there is considerable interest from the tertiary
education sector about how websites like Facebook can be used
in learning and teaching. The development of social networking
websites as online spaces which allow the presentation and
articulation of social relationships has enabled the
establishment of multiple connections and communities.
Activity: Identify the nominalisations
The popularity of Facebook is obvious. However, the increase in
usage over the last five years has led to a reduction in personal
relationships and the need for systematization of maintenance.
As with other major technological developments, such as radio
and television, there is considerable interest from the tertiary
education sector about how websites like Facebook can be used
in learning and teaching. The development of social networking
websites as online spaces which allow the presentation and
articulation of social relationships has enabled the
establishment of multiple connections and communities.
The effect of nominalisation
When a writer has used a lot of nominalisations the reader has
to do a lot of extra work in ‘unpacking’ the meaning.
Academic text is sometimes difficult to understand due to dense
clusters of nominalisations.
When you are writing assignments, you should monitor your
text: ask yourself if you are using too many nominalisations.
Improve your writing
If you are writing an assignment, consider reformulating any
passages which have too many nominalisations packed in
together:
 Replace the nouns with verbs where possible.
 Aim to add contextual information to help the reader develop
a better understanding.
Activity: Improve your writing
Could you reword this paragraph to make it easier for the
reader?
The development of social networking websites as online
spaces which allow the presentation and articulation of social
relationships has enabled the establishment of multiple
connections and communities.
Which words should you focus on?
Activity: Improve your writing
Could you reword this paragraph to make it easier for the
reader?
The development of social networking websites as online
spaces which allow the presentation and articulation of social
relationships has enabled the establishment of multiple
connections and communities.
Which words should you focus on?
Unpacking the nominalisations
The development of social networking websites as online spaces
which allow the presentation and articulation of social
relationships has enabled the establishment of multiple
connections and communities.
… social networking websites allow users to present themselves
in a variety of different ways and to articulate their views on a
range of topical issues. This means that students can establish
social relationships with a variety of people; they are able to
connect with a wider range of communities including students in
other institutions.
Identify the noun group
When you are reading and writing, it is useful to be able to
recognise the noun group.
The noun group might be short – just one word, e.g. skills
Sometimes writers use a longer noun group, e.g. digital literacy
skills
Focus on nouns
Activity
How many nouns can you identify?
the digital literacy skills which students need for success
Focus on nouns
Activity
How many nouns can you identify?
the digital literacy skills which students need for success
Identify the head noun in the noun group
When you are reading and writing, it is useful to be able to
recognise the head noun which is at the heart of a longer noun
group.
Activity
What is the head noun in this example?
the digital literacy skills which students need for success
Identify the head noun in the noun group
When you are reading and writing, it is useful to be able to
recognise the head noun which is at the heart of a longer noun
group.
Activity
What is the head noun in this example?
the digital literacy skills which students need for success
Expanding the noun group
The noun group can be expanded by adding an adjective (or
adjectives) before the noun:
literacy skills
digital literacy skills
The noun group can be further expanded by adding an
embedded clause after the noun:
… the digital literacy skills which students need in order to
succeed …
Expanding the noun group
Another way of expanding the noun group is by adding a
prepositional phrase after the noun:
… the negative potential implications of Facebook use in
tertiary education …
Note that there are two prepositional phrases here:
… the negative potential implications of Facebook use in
tertiary education …
Summary …
 state the function of nominalisation
 identify and unpack nominalisations
 identify a noun group
End of classroom session
Here are some follow-up activities you might like to do …
 Visit the websites which are listed
 Read the summary notes about different classifications
of nouns
Useful websites
Here are some useful websites:
http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/academic/3b.html
http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/complex_nom.
htm
http://aeo.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/Files/nominalisation/Nom%2
0LOC.html
Nouns
Nouns can be divided up in a number of ways:
 Common nouns and proper nouns
 Concrete nouns and abstract nouns
 Countable nouns and uncountable nouns
 Collective nouns
Common nouns and proper nouns
Find some examples of each - check with your
neighbour.
Common noun
Proper noun
City
Auckland
Person
Cristiano Ronaldo
book
Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association
Concrete nouns and abstract nouns
Find some examples of each - check with your
neighbour.
Concrete noun
table
chair
friend
container
book
Abstract noun
friendship
capacity
advice
courage
knowledge
Countable nouns and uncountable nouns
Find some examples of each - check with your
neighbour.
Countable noun
dollars
litres
loaves
bars
bottles
pens
Uncountable noun
money
petrol
bread
soap
milk
stationery
Countable nouns and uncountable nouns
Take turns to explain the rules for using uncountable
nouns and countable nouns. Here are some examples:
when do we use ‘many’ or ‘much’? When do we use
‘less’ or ‘fewer’?
Which nouns are sometimes used as uncountable for
general reference (analysis, science) and sometimes
used as countable for definite reference (an analysis, a
science).
Countable nouns and uncountable nouns
Rules for using countable nouns
Rules for using uncountable nouns
Can be either singular
Always singular
or plural
Cannot use ‘a/an’
Cannot use ‘many’
Cannot use ‘much’
Cannot use ‘less’
Cannot be preceded by ‘a little’
Can be preceded by ‘a/an’, ‘fewer’, ‘many’,
‘some’, ‘any’, ‘no’
Can be preceded by ‘some’, ‘any’, ‘no’, ‘a little’,
‘much’, ‘less’
Useful to learn nouns which refer to the
uncountable noun, e.g. a bit of, a bottle of, a
can of, a sheet of, a cake of, a piece of
Countable nouns: Plurals
The typical rule for forming plural nouns is simply to
add s:
 websites
 essays
 topics
 benefits
Countable nouns: Plurals
There are some irregular endings, e.g. nouns ending in
o or ch, sh, ss, x
Try to explain the rules; find some examples
Plurals ending in o or ch, sh, ss, x
singular
tomato
church
bush
cross
tax
plural
tomatoes
churches
bushes
crosses
taxes
Countable nouns: Plurals
There are some irregular endings, e.g. Nouns ending in
y
Try to explain the rules; find some examples
Plurals ending in y
singular
baby
lady
country
butterfly
plural
babies
ladies
countries
butterflies
Countable nouns: Plurals
There are some irregular endings, e.g. Nouns ending in
f
Try to explain the rules; find some examples
Note that the endings will include words which end
with an ‘f’ sound, and not only words that end with the
letter ‘f’ in terms of spelling
Plurals ending in f
singular
calf
half
knife
leaf
life
loaf
shelf
thief
wife
plural
calves
halves
knives
leaves
lives
loaves
shelves
thieves
wives
Plurals: Highly irregular forms
Some irregular forms do not have an easy pattern or
explanation - you just need to learn these, e.g.
tooth
child
Find some more examples
Plurals: Highly irregular forms
singular
plural
analysis
analyses
appendix
appendices
axis
axes
criterion
criteria
datum
data
medium
media
phenomenon
phenomena
stimulus
stimuli
stratum
strata
Collective nouns
Collective nouns are used to refer to a group, e.g.
crew
family
government
staff
team
Collective nouns
In terms of grammar, it is possible to use either a
singular verb or a plural verb depending on how the
speaker is thinking of the group, as a single unit or as a
collective of individuals:
 The crew was rescued after their vessel sank.
 The crew were rescued after their vessel sank.
Collective nouns: Activity
We talk about members of a team, colours of the
spectrum, etc.
How about these?
a–b–c–d–e–f–g…
These are letters of the alphabet
Collective nouns for everyday use
Here is a list of useful collective nouns for general
usage in New Zealand:
 culture of bacteria
 flock of birds
 herd of cattle
 pod of dolphins
 school of fish
 colony of seals
 flock of sheep
To summarise
Identify the areas that you need to revise:








Common nouns
Proper nouns
Concrete nouns
Abstract nouns
Countable nouns
Uncountable nouns
Collective nouns
Nominalisations