Representing actions with nouns
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Forms of nominalisation | page 7 of 8 |
Adjective to noun
Another common type of nominalisation occurs when a writer or speaker takes a character, quality or state which is usually represented by an adjective, and represents it as a noun:
My students' general knowledge was very broad, which impressed me greatly.
The breadth of their general knowledge impressed me greatly.
The use of the adjective form in the first example focuses on the
quality of "broadness" 
. The nominalised form in the second version represents breadth
as a "thing".
In the first example, the idea is built up gradually in a logical order (firstly, "students"; secondly, "general knowledge"; thirdly, "broad") and this makes it easy for the reader to process, and understand.
In the second example, the same information can be conveyed much more concisely, in one clause rather than two.
In the second example, the use of a nominalised form allows the speaker to present the initial proposition (the idea of the students' knowledge being broad) as an established fact. This is a useful device for a writer to use, as foregrounding an idea in this way can have the subtle effect of persuading the reader to accept the initial proposition as truth instead of questioning it closely.
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Nominalisations formed from adjectives can be both countable
and uncountable  .
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With adjective-to-noun nominalisations, the noun commonly becomes possessive, allowing greater conciseness: |
He cut sugar-cane in his youth before joining his father, a ship's steward, on his travels. (Microconcord Corpus A)
... when he was young ...The importance of the Confucian father figure in the family is reflected in the family business where the proprietor expects staff loyalty in exchange for his benevolence. (SCMP27/5/94)
... the proprietor will be benevolent ...
For further information about the reasons people have for using nominalisations, see
Representing actions with nouns: Reasons for representing actions with
nouns.
Adjective to noun
