Nominalisation in Formal Business Writing

• Nominalisation means turning verbs and adjectives into nouns. This makes reports, strategy papers, and proposals sound much more formal and objective.
• Verb / Adjective
• Noun Formation
• Example in a Formal Sentence
• decide
• decision
• The board made a decision to expand in Chicago.
• available
• availability
• We confirmed the availability of funds in Boston.
• propose
• proposal
• Mark submitted a proposal for the Seattle office.
• analyze
• analysis
• A deep financial analysis will guide us.
• Remember
• Use nominalisation to remove personal pronouns and sound professional.
• Pair action nouns with strong verbs like make, conduct, or ensure.
• Check suffixes such as -ion, -ity, -ment, and -ance when changing words.
• Examples
• We must evaluate the risks carefully. -> Careful evaluation of the risks is essential.
• The team decided to delay the launch. -> The team made a decision to delay the launch.
• Common mistakes
• We need to discuss about the expansion.
• We need to hold a discussion about the expansion.
• The manager resolved to solve the crisis.
• The manager reached a resolution to solve the crisis.

Complete the sentences

• The board reached a final (decide) ____ to open a branch in Austin.
• We must verify the (available) ____ of resources in Denver.
• An in-depth (analyse) ____ of the market in Portland is required.
• Our main (objective) ____ is to increase sales in London.
• Please send your (propose) ____ to the director in Bristol.
• The successful (implement) ____ of the plan depends on funding.

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