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Grammar
Objective: Transform complex verbal text drafts into concise, professional noun phrases suitable for executive summaries and report headlines.
| Verbal clause | Nominalized phrase | Register |
|---|---|---|
| Le service analyse les résultats. | L'analyse des résultats par le service. | formal |
| Le comité a décidé de réduire les coûts. | La décision de réduire les coûts. | formal |
| On publiera le rapport en janvier. | La publication du rapport en janvier. | formal |
| L'équipe se forme depuis mars. | La formation de l'équipe depuis mars. | formal |
Nominalization replaces the verb phrase with a single noun phrase, so réduire les coûts becomes la réduction des coûts and the clause compresses into one group.
Overloading a nominalized phrase with relative clauses defeats the purpose, since nominalization exists to reduce length rather than to shift the density elsewhere.
The verb réduire becomes the noun réduction, and its object becomes a complement introduced by de.
The action verb analyser becomes the grammatical subject of the sentence.
The compound verb mettre en œuvre corresponds to the compound noun la mise en œuvre.
The nominalization turns the action into the subject, and the agent is introduced by par.
The verb publier becomes la publication, and the future reference becomes a time complement.
7 exercises · about 11 minutes
| Le directeur a annoncé son départ. |
| L'annonce du départ du directeur. |
| formal |
| Le projet sera achevé en juin. | L'achèvement du projet en juin. | formal |
The heavy le fait que clause can often be replaced by a nominalized phrase such as le caractère incomplet du rapport.
Nominalization is not always an improvement, and a short verbal clause reads more clearly than an awkward chain of nouns when the sentence carries only one action.
The noun formation here means training, and the phrase compresses a longer verbal statement.
Two nominalizations chain together: l'annonce and le départ, each replacing a verb clause.
The verb achever becomes the noun achèvement, and the sentence reads as a formal planning statement.