Representing actions with nouns

Some everyday nouns used to represent actions

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Nominalisation in the form of delexical structures is extremely common in both spoken and written English, and occurs regularly in English coursebooks and in the English classroom. Firstly, here are some of the differences between the delexical form and the simple verb form:

	With a simple verb such as sip, the focus is on the action, whereas with the noun form of the same verb, eg she took a sip, the speaker is naming an event, something with a beginning and an end.
	In the example she took a sip, it is clear that it was only one sip, whereas if the speaker had simply said she sipped her drink, there is no indication as to how many sips she had. Note that the use of a transitive verb like sip requires an object.

There are certain advantages in using a delexical structure:

	Delexical structures have an advantage over their simple verb counterparts because of the possibility for the noun group to be expanded . The flexibility of the noun group allows the use of adjectives and prepositional phrases to modify the noun instead of the less concise and stylistically awkward use of adverbials . Taking the above example, the speaker can add more information about the sipping, eg she took several furtive sips, which is stylistically better than she furtively sipped her drink several times. This is an important aspect of how nominalisation can help writers to write concisely.
	Delexical structures can be exploited by speakers to emphasise certain aspects of the situation being presented. For example, in the sentence John took a bite of the cake, the emphasis is on the head noun bite (which is post-modified by of the cake), whereas with John bit into the cake, the emphasis is more on the cake than the bite.
	Delexical structures can be exploited by speakers to remove certain elements from the immediate focus. For example, in the sentence I took an examination, the nominalisation conceals an underlying passive meaning, ie "I was examined".
	With the noun form, there is also often a sense of deliberateness, or purpose. For example when you make a suggestion, you do so with the intention of making someone actually do something, whereas you might suggest something to someone by a casual remark without actually having intended to suggest anything!
	Speakers and writers can also choose to omit information by choosing a delexical structure:

After lunch we need to have a discussion.

Here, the speaker does not need to specify the topic of the discussion. Compare this with the choice of the simple verb form discuss:

After lunch we need to discuss your term grades.

Here, the use of a transitive verb means that the speaker has to specify the topic of the discussion .

Introduction
 The form of delexical verb structures
Nouns commonly used in delexical structures
Reasons for using delexical structures