ACT English: Eliminate Nominalization to Make Sentences Punchy

Nominalization is turning a verb into a noun, usually with a suffix like -tion, -ment, -ance. "We made a decision" nominalized becomes "We made a decision" (wordy). Proper verb form: "We decided" (concise). "The study of climate change reveals..." nominalized. Better: "Studying climate change reveals..." Nominalizations add words without adding meaning. ACT English tests conciseness, and removing nominalizations can reduce sentence length by 20-30% without losing information—a powerful editing skill that earns you 1-2 points per test.

Common nominalizations: make a decision (decide), conduct an investigation (investigate), show an improvement (improve), undergo a transformation (transform). When you see these, ask: "Can I use the verb form instead?" The answer is almost always yes.

Pattern 1: "Make a [noun]" = use the verb. ("Make a decision" = "decide.") Pattern 2: "[Noun] of [gerund]" = use the verb directly. ("The study of learning" = "learning.") Pattern 3: "[Adjective] + [noun]" = use the adverb form of the verb. ("Rapid growth" = "growing rapidly.") Pattern 4: "There is/are [noun]" + dependent clause = eliminate "there is" and use the verb. ("There is a need to improve" = "We must improve.") Pattern 5: Passive voice with nominalizations. ("An improvement was made" = "We improved.") Master these five patterns and you will spot nominalizations instantly, editing them out to make your writing concise and clear.

Mark these patterns in ACT English passages. Notice: fixing them always makes the sentence shorter and punchier.

Take five ACT English passages. Read for nominalization and underline every instance. Then rewrite the sentence using the verb form instead of the noun. Check the original sentence word count versus your revision. You should cut 10-30%. This drill trains your ear to hear nominalization as a weakness, a habit that improves your editing instinct and English score.

Do this drill once per week for two weeks. By test day, you will spot nominalizations and know how to fix them in seconds.

ACT English tests conciseness. Nominalizations are a major culprit in wordy writing. One or two conciseness questions per English section may involve nominalization. A student who masters nominalization removal gains 1-2 points per English section, raising her composite by nearly 1 full point.

This week, learn the five patterns. By test day, you will eliminate nominalizations with confidence and make every sentence punchier.