Author: Julie Watson, eLanguages, University of Southampton
In academic writing, subject and object nouns (the headwords) are often 'loaded' with information. Writers do this by adding one or more modifiers to the headword.
Sometimes a very long noun phrase is used. Can you identify the headword in this sentence?
The average distance travelled to their 'main' store by the 276 respondents who switched to the new store, fell by 2.25 kms in the pre-intervention period to 0.98 kms in the post-intervention period.
These activities provide practice in using noun phrases instead of clauses, to give your academic writing a more concise and formal style.
You are going to practise using noun phrases instead of relative clauses .Writers often use a noun phrase instead of a relative clause, particularly instead of a defining relative clause.
Look at these examples. What different ways of forming a noun phrase do they show?
Change the following noun + relative clause fragments into noun phrases.
1. people who create web pages
2. research that has been done recently
3. plants that are grown in this way
4. the fossils that have been newly unearthed
5. some of the radio stations that broadcast on shortwave
6. researchers who know a lot about the subject
7. children who speak two languages
8. a company that is run by the state
9. women who do not have enough iron in their blood
10. the research that has been reported here
Noun phrases can replace other types of clause. You are now going to practise transforming sentences so that they contain a noun phrase instead of a clause.
Look at the examples in the table below. Compare the two versions of each sentence that is shown: one with a clause and one with a noun phrase.What do you notice about how the word class changes in the two different versions?
Sentence with clause |
Sentence with noun phrase |
Researchers have to judge how valid and reliable the web sites are. |
Researchers have to judge the validity and reliability of the web sites. |
How the babies moved their limbs was tracked by sensors. |
The movement of the babies' limbs was tracked by sensors. |
Results suggest that students use the WWW widely. |
Results suggest widespread use of the WWW by students. |
It is now possible to mass produce pure human antibodies. |
The mass production of pure human antibodies is now possible. |
Women have a weaker immune response to allergens with each successive pregnancy. |
Women's immune response to allergens weakens with each successive pregnancy. |
Rewrite the following sentences using noun phrases instead of clauses. Part of each sentence has been given to help you.
1. The test aimed to prove how playable the game was.
2. There was a clear pattern to how participants self-assessed their performance.
3. The blades were extremely sharp and this made them highly effective weapons.
4. The map shows where the new areas of forestry are.
5. This study clearly demonstrates that diet greatly influences toddlers' behaviour.
Produced for the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics
and Area Studies Materials Bank www.llas.ac.uk/mb
Author: Julie Watson, eLanguages, University of Southampton