Using Relative Clauses
In this post we will take a look at relative clauses and how we can use them in English. Share What are Relative Clauses? Relative
Nominalisation describes a word formation in which a verb (or other part of speech) is used as (or transformed into) a noun.
We’ll take a look at why we use them and why these noun forms can be useful in formal writing.
When we use verb forms it makes the language more immediate, easier to understand, and often less formal.
By using the noun form instead, we can make we what we say or write a lot more formal.
Let’s look at an example
What we can see from these examples is that the focus is different in each. Sentence 1 focuses on the action, whereas our second example emphasises the activity or noun.
In this respect the use of the noun form is similar to why we use the passive form, in order to focus on the action.
There are a number of reasons why we use nominalisations.
To avoid mentioning the agent, as we do with the passive.
It allows us to change the focus of the sentence, as new important information is usually placed at the beginning of the sentence.
Commonly, we are are looking at more than a simple verb -> noun change. Noun phrases are also used as a form of nominalisation.
A noun phrase is a group of two or more words headed by a noun that includes modifiers. Just as nouns can act as subjects, objects, and prepositional objects, the same applies to noun phrases.
Examples
Noun phrases can be very useful as they allow us to reduce extended information to a single more precise and often more elegant idea.
Compare the original information below with the modified version which use noun phrases.
In all three examples the use of a noun structure has made the meaning very clear and produced shorter, more precise sentences.
Take a look at other topics in our C1 Advanced English Corner. Read about using inversion forms for formal writing and how we can use cause and reason expressions to improve writing.
In this post we will take a look at relative clauses and how we can use them in English. Share What are Relative Clauses? Relative
Share In this post we’ll take a look at using passive forms in English and why we use them. Why do we use the passive
Share In this post we’ll take a look at question tags. Question tags are short questions which we add to the end of a statement
Share In this post we’re going to talk about the future. There are lots of different ways to talk about the future in English so
Share Proficiency Exam Corner Share Proficiency Exam Corner Share More Posts Read More Using… Read More Using Topic Sentences Share In the Cambridge Advanced
Share Rather & Prefer In this post we will look at the different grammar of would rather and would prefer and the way we use each
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |