Compare: 'The government decided to increase taxes' vs 'The government's decision to increase taxes...' The verb 'decide' became the noun 'decision'. This process — turning a verb or adjective into a noun — is nominalization, and it's one of the clearest markers of formal, academic, and journalistic English. It lets writers pack information densely and shift focus onto the action or quality itself rather than who did it.

Common patterns: decide->decision, analyze->analysis, argue->argument, apply->application, aware->awareness. Overusing nominalization makes writing feel stiff in casual contexts, but using none of it in a report or essay makes writing feel underdeveloped — the skill is knowing when. 🔊