If you are not familiar with the word, nominalization is a grammatical term for turning verbs and sometimes adjectives into nouns.
For example, the noun decision instead of decide or experimentation instead of experiment.
There is no grammatical problem with turning verbs into nouns. However, it can have a detrimental effect because it can weaken your writing by hiding the instigator of an action.
It is not dissimilar to using too much passive voice. Strong writing is usually driven by action, so reducing your use of noun-based verbs is usually a good idea.
Defining nominalization with examples
Nominalization occurs when you turn a verb or an adjective into a noun.
You’ll notice it in your writing when you use nouns like decision, movement, or failure instead of the more direct verbs decide, move, or fail.
For example, instead of writing “She decided quickly,” a nominalized version would be “Her decision was quick.”
Both are grammatically correct, but you can see that the first example is more active and engaging.
Some writers overuse nominalizations because they want a formal or academic tone, but it can result in vague or bloated sentences.
Take this sentence: “The implementation of the policy led to improvements.”
It sounds official, like a politician would speak, but compare it with “Implementing the policy improved results.”
The second version is shorter, clearer, and more active.
Nominalizations make it more difficult to understand who is doing what.
While they’re not always wrong, overusing them can sap your writing’s energy.
How to find and replace verb-based nouns
Finding and replacing verb nouns is one of the easiest ways to improve the clarity of your writing.
You can start by scanning your sentences for abstract nouns that end in -tion, -ment, -ance, or -ing, which often signal nominalization.
Words like completion, development, acceptance, or understanding may be hiding a stronger verb you could use instead.
Once you spot one, ask yourself: Is there a clear, direct verb I could use?
For example, if you wrote “The negotiation was successful,” you might revise it to “They negotiated successfully.”
This simple shift brings the sentence to life by putting the action front and center.
Next, look at who is performing the action. Nominalized writing often buries the subject, making a sentence vague and often passive.
A sentence like “The implementation of the plan was delayed” doesn’t say who delayed it.
Rewriting it as “The team delayed implementing the plan” adds clarity and accountability.
Another trick is to look for auxiliary verbs like is, was, has, or had, which often occur around nominalized constructions and passive clauses.
You can usually rewrite these types of phrases with fewer words and more energy.
You don’t need to remove every noun-based verb. Just focus on the ones that weaken the flow or blur the meaning.
Editing for nominalization is like cleaning a dirty window. You’re cleaning away the haze to let the real picture shine through.
With practice, you’ll start noticing these patterns as you write, not just when you revise.
What writers say about nominalization
Many writers and editors have mentioned how nominalization affects good writing.
Helen Sword, author of Stylish Academic Writing, famously calls them “zombie nouns—because they suck the life out of otherwise strong, active sentences.”
In her view, these abstract nouns “cannibalize active verbs, suck the lifeblood from adjectives, and substitute bloated phrases for lean, vigorous ones.”
In his essay Politics and the English Language, George Orwell also weighed in on this habit, albeit indirectly. He criticized “pretentious diction” and the overuse of vague, abstract language.
His advice? “Prefer the short word to the long, and the direct expression to the indirect.”
The Chicago Manual of Style cautions against excessive nominalization, noting that it can make prose “heavy and imprecise.”
From these quick quotes, you can sense that good writing is often a matter of clarity and rhythm, and nominalizations tend to disrupt both.
While some have their place, most professional writers advise trimming them when they cloud meaning or slow the pace.
As always, strong writing is less about rules and more about conscious choices.
Knowing when to cut or keep a nominalization is part of developing your confident, readable writing style.
Is there a grammatical opposite?
Yes, there is.
Verbalization (or sometimes denominalization) describes the action of turning a noun into a verb.
A classic example is the word Google.
It is the noun for the well-known search engine. But we often use the word as a verb, as in “to Google it,” when searching for information.
Another is the noun message. We use it now as a verb to say someone messaged me. (Also to text someone.)
Friend has always been a noun, until recently. How often do you hear someone say someone unfriended them on social media?
It’s not only new language. Many common nouns have a verb form, such as choice and choose or advice and advise.
Summary
Overusing nominalization, or the habit of turning verbs into nouns, can affect the effect of your writing.
While it’s not wrong at all, noun-based constructions sometimes lead to flat or wordy sentences.
By learning to spot common patterns (like words ending in -tion, -ment, or -ance) and replacing them with active verbs, you can make your writing clearer, sharper, and more engaging.
On top of that, you will often find that you discover passive structures you can quickly change to active.
The key is your intention.
Strong writing depends on clarity and movement, not just correctness.
Writers from Orwell to modern style guides agree: active language keeps readers involved.
So next time you revise or edit, watch out for those “zombie nouns”, and perhaps give your sentences a bit more energy.
Related Reading: What Is Parallelism In Writing And How To Use It
