Section 3 — The Truth Grammar focus

Session 9 Grammar: Nominalization and hidden agency

Turning verbs into nouns removes the actor from the sentence — a powerful tool for obscuring responsibility in English journalism and political language.

Grammar Focus

[Verb/active sentence] → [Nominalized/passive equivalent]

Nominalization converts a verb into a noun, often making a sentence more abstract and hiding who did what. Active: "The police shot three protesters." → Nominalized: "The shooting of three protesters occurred." The actor (police) disappears. This pattern is widespread in political and journalistic language — recognizing it is a key critical reading skill.

Structure: Active verb (e.g., "decide") → Nominal form (e.g., "a decision") + passive construction (e.g., "a decision was reached")

"A decision was made to proceed." (Who decided?)

"The implementation of the policy has been delayed." (Who is delaying it?)

"There was significant resistance to the proposal." (Who resisted? Why?)

"The killings occurred during the crackdown." (Who killed whom?)

"An investigation has been launched." (By whom? Into what?)

"Violations of the agreement were observed." (Who violated it? Who observed?)

Variations to practice

Take any news story and identify nominalizations. Rewrite each one as an active sentence with a named agent. What changes? What does naming the agent reveal?