ACADEMIC ENGLISH II

Grammatical Metaphor – Nominalisations

ACADEMIC ENGLISH II

GRAMMATICAL METAPHOR---NOMINALISATIONS

Based on Thompson, G. (2014). Introducing Functional Grammar. Oxon: Routledge. (Chapter 9)

Grammatical metaphor:

ü The possibility of re-setting the relationships between meanings and wordings, which
is a central resource for expanding the meaning potential of language.
ü The expression of a meaning through a lexico-grammatical form that originally evolved
to express a different kind of meaning. The expression of the meaning is metaphorical
in relation to a different way of expressing the “same” meaning that would be more
congruent.

In the following sentence, “crippled” and “burden” are being used metaphorically:

The north is crippled with the burden of the industrial revolution to an extent that the south
hardly begins to understand.

We can re-write this into less metaphorical language:

The north is in a difficult situation because of the effects of the industrial revolution.

1
ACADEMIC ENGLISH II
Grammatical Metaphor – Nominalisations

The north emerges from every statistical comparison that can be made as significantly poorer
than the south.

Whenever people compare statistics about the north and the south, they find that the north
is significantly poorer than the south.

Grammatically congruent and metaphorical wordings of a meaning.

Experiential and logical metaphors

Let’s have a look at the following examples and answer the questions below.

1.
After getting a cut, scratch, or abrasion, your skin may start bleeding. This happens because
the injury breaks or tears the tiny blood vessels that live right under the skin’s surface. Your
body wants to stop the bleeding so the platelets (say: platelutz) in your blood come to the
rescue.
At the site of a wound (say: woond), which is another word for injury, platelets stick together,
like glue. This is called clotting, which works like a plug to keep blood and other fluids from
leaking out.
(© 1995–2012. The Nemours Foundation/KidsHealth®. Reprinted with permission.)

2.

Blood Clotting is one of three mechanisms that reduce the loss of blood from broken blood
vessels. These three mechanisms are: [first item omitted]
• Platelet Plug Formation – When blood platelets encounter a damaged blood vessel they
form a ‘platelet plug’ to help to close the gap in the broken blood vessel. (The key stages of
this process are called platelet adhesion, platelet release reaction, and platelet aggregation)
• Blood Clotting (Coagulation) … Blood clotting (technically ‘blood coagulation’) is the process
by which (liquid) blood is transformed into a solid state.

3.

Inhibition of thrombin generation in recalcified plasma

Abstract:
Eight inhibitors of thrombin generation were compared in recalcified unfrozen plasma. …
Thrombin was generated by addition of 5microl fresh 250 mmol/l CaCl2 to 50 microl plasma in
polystyrol flat-bottom wells and incubation for 20 min at 37 degrees C (recalcified coagulation
activity assay). Arginine stopped hemostasis activation and then the generated thrombin
activity was specifically quantified. … The 50% inhibitory concentration values for corn trypsin

2
ACADEMIC ENGLISH II
Grammatical Metaphor – Nominalisations

inhibitor or aprotinin at plasmatic concentrations above 4-100 U/ml might increase
pathologically the thrombin generation.


Ø What audiences are the texts intended for?
Ø Find the nominalizations. Can you find differences in the nominalizations used in the
three texts? If so, can you explain?

Nominalization: In formal written English there is a tendency to represent events, qualities of

objects and events, and logical connections, not in their most ‘natural’ or congruent form as
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions, but as nouns. This is particularly the case in
academic, technical and specialised uses of English. (Coffin et al. 2009, p. 422)

Meaning Congruent form Nominalised form
Event/process Verb, e.g. move, demand Movement, demand
Quality of object Adjective, e.g. elastic elasticity
Or event Adverb, e.g. cruelly cruelty
Logical relationship Connector e.g. because, Cause, reason, consequence,
therefore result
(Adapted from Coffin et al. 2009, p. 422

3
ACADEMIC ENGLISH II
Grammatical Metaphor – Nominalisations

These ideas have been subject to widespread criticism. [‘Many people have criticised
these ideas’]
Our basic assumption is that the retention of unfamiliar words is conditional upon the
degree of involvement in processing these words. [‘We basically assume that (learners)
retain unfamiliar words depending on how much they are involved in processing these
words’]
Immobilisation and the prompt administration of the appropriate antibiotics may
occasionally lead to resolution. [‘If (the doctor) immobilises (the patient) and promptly
administers the appropriate antibiotics, the problem may occasionally be resolved’]

Encapsulation. One pattern found in formal discursive text is where a meaning is brought in
as a full clause, and is then encapsulated in a nominalization that serves as the starting point
for the next or a later clause.

Here are a couple of examples from textbooks from different fields (linguistics and chemistry).

In the first example, the nominalization encapsulates a proposition in the preceding sentence,
whereas in the second the nominalization comes at the start of a new section, referring back
to the phenomenon that was introduced and discussed at length in the preceding section.

Because intra-speaker variation has been studied within frameworks associated with
a number of diff erent subject areas [...], it is practical to treat style-shifting and code-
switching separately in this chapter. But such a separation has no theoretical justifi
cation.

As an instantaneous dipole forms in one particle, it causes the electron density in its
neighbour to become unsymmetrical, too. As a result the second particle also becomes
a dipole […] The creation of a dipole in a neighbour is not restricted to instantaneous
irregularities in the electron densities of atoms or molecules.

The first example above also illustrates another important use of nominalization. The
technical term ‘code-switching’ is itself a nominalization encapsulating a concept that has
been established clausally a couple of sentences previously:

... some communities have access to linguistic repertoires which allow them to switch
between codes which they (or others) perceive as different languages or different
dialects of the same language.

Exactly the same is true of ‘style-shifting’. The relationship between the technical terms and
their clausal expression is reasonably easy to identify in these cases: the technical term
condenses a clause so that it can be referred to more economically in the rest of the
discussion. But there is another nominalized technical term in the example that works slightly
differently. ‘Intra-speaker variation’ has appeared earlier as ‘variation in the language of a
single speaker on different occasions’. This is also a nominalization, though it is much less
condensed and thus easier to translate into a more congruent wording (‘a single speaker
varies the language they use on different occasions’). However, this nominalization itself
relates back, not to a specific clause earlier in the text, but to the general concept of variation

4
ACADEMIC ENGLISH II
Grammatical Metaphor – Nominalisations

in language use that has been the subject of the whole book: this nominalization expresses a
new sub-category of a phenomenon which should, by this point in the book, be
understandable to the readers (it is worth remembering that at the start of the book
uninitiated readers might well not have fully understood the idea that language varies, since
most people assume that language is uniform). Nominalized technical terms are clearly very
economical; but equally clearly the reader needs to be able to identify the uncondensed
wording that the nominalization relates to.

Meaning condensation.
What is it that gets reduced or lost in the condensation? One key loss is often that of the doer
of the process. As we have seen above, the doer can be mentioned as different kinds of
attributes; but whereas clauses normally require a Subject, nominalizations do not have to
have attributes. One reason why nominalization is in harmony with the ideology of science,
and of academic, formal writing in general, is that it makes it easy for processes to be de-
personalized: to be expressed without the human doer. This de-personalization, as noted
above in the case of ‘emerge’, is often carried over into the verbs that express the process.
Nominalized meanings may, for example, ‘indicate’ conclusions or ‘reveal’ insights, without it
being necessary to mention the human being who is in fact interpreting:

Here, a statistical analysis of the actual vote indicates that opposition was
localised.The relatively recent focus on spoken language has revealed the inability of
available models to account for the process nature of language.

At the same time, nominalized processes cannot be finite: they are not tied to any specific
time in relation to the time of speaking. Thus a nominalized process is detached from the
here-and-now in a way that is not normally possible for a process expressed by a verb. It is
therefore inherently generalized – again, in harmony with the aim of science to establish
general truths not tied to specific conditions of time or observer.

I came back early because my father died
The reason for my early return was the death of my father

EXERCISE 1
Identify any cases of nominalization in the following extract from a medical textbook,
together with any associated features in the clause, such as verbs expressing logical
relationships. Look particularly at the almost complete absence of people from the
text: how is this done?

After that, try converting the text into a more ‘spoken’, de-condensed form, as if the
information were being given in an informal talk to trainee doctors. You won’t be able to get
rid of all the nominalizations, passives, etc. but you can put the people back in many cases.

‘Frozen shoulder’ is a clinical syndrome which can probably be produced by a variety of
pathological processes in the shoulder joint. These can seldom be differentiated and
treatment is empirical. It is a condition affecting the middle-aged, in whose shoulder cuffs
degenerative changes are occurring. The outstanding feature is limitation of movements in
the shoulder. This restriction is often severe, with virtually no gleno-humeral movements
possible, but in the milder cases rotation, especially internal rotation, is primarily affected.
Restriction of movements is accompanied in most cases by pain, which is often severe and

5
ACADEMIC ENGLISH II
Grammatical Metaphor – Nominalisations

may disturb sleep.
There is frequently a history of minor trauma, which is usually presumed to produce some
tearing of the degenerating shoulder cuff , thereby initiating the low-grade prolonged
inflammatory changes responsible for the symptoms. Radiographs of the shoulder are almost
always normal. In some cases the condition is initiated by a period of immobilisation of the
arm, not uncommonly as the result of the inadvised prolonged use of a sling after a Colles’
fracture. It is commoner on the left side, and in an appreciable number of cases there is a
preceding episode of a silent or overt cardiac infarct. If untreated, pain subsides after many
months, but there may be permanent restriction of movements. The main aim of treatment is
to improve the final range of movements in the shoulder, and graduated shoulder exercises
are the mainstay of treatment. In some cases where pain is a particular problem,
hydrocortisone injections into the shoulder cuff may be helpful. In a few cases, once the acute
stage is well past, manipulation of the shoulder under general anaesthesia may be helpful in
restoring movement in a stiff joint.
(From R. McRae, 1990, Clinical orthopaedic examination (3rd edition), Edinburgh: Churchill
Livingstone, p.42)

6
ACADEMIC ENGLISH II
Grammatical Metaphor – Nominalisations

EXERCISE 2 (Coffin et al. 2009, p. 420)

The two texts that follow are the opening sections of two academic lectures. Text 1 is from
an economics lecture. Text 2 is from a lecture given by Daniel Dennett, a prominent
American philosopher who specialises in philosophy of the mind.

a) Read the transcripts of the two lecture extracts.
b) Consider which one might be more difficult to follow and process, from the point of
view of a ‘lay’ listener (i.e. a person without specialist field knowledge). What are
the reasons for your decision? Provide as much linguistic evidence as you can.

Text 1. Elasticity
Let me begin by resuming where we finished yesterday we’re talking about the concept of
elasticity in particular we were looking at the price elasticity of emand we’ve looked at a
number of applications and seen the empirical relevance of this but everything we’ve done
before last time was to talk ra, in rather vague imprecise terms about the elasticity being a
measure of the responsiveness of for example demand to change in price towards the end of
last time we started making this concept of ena-, elasticity a more precise quantitative
measure and where we got to at the end of last time was to this point here we said we can
define the price elasticity of demand as being the proportional change in quantity demanded
divided by the prop-, proportional change in price and we can see that easily in terms of the
demand curve we start off at some point A we said initial price is P-zero price falls to P-one so
delta-P is the change in price and that induces a movement down the demand curve to point
B the quantity demanded increasing from Qzero to Q-one so delta_Q measures the increase
in quantity.
(Extracted from Coffin et al, 2009).

Text 2. Consciousness
Consciousness is both the most familiar thing to all of us and one of the most mysterious.
What could be more familiar to you than your own stream of consciousness? And yet how on
earth could it fit inside your brain? How on earth could what goes on in your brain actually
account for what goes on? What we see here is the cartoonist’s wonderful convention, the
thought balloon, or thought bubble, and I think everybody understands immediately what’s
going on here, what appears in the ballon is the stream of consciousness as it wereof the
person that you see, from whom it is emanating. My favourite example of a thought balloon is
is this brilliant one from Saul Steinberg, this was a New Yorker cover of many years ago, and
what we see is that the gentleman over here on the left is looking at a painting in the museum
and he is identifying it as a painting by George Braque, and the word Braque reminds him of
the word Baroque which reminds him of the word barrack and then bark and then poodlem
and then we’re off to the races and we get this stream of consciousness unfolding with all of
its associations. And it is not just words it’s colours and shapes and uh even the genius of
Steinberg wasn’t able to represent recalled odours, aromas and music but we can imagine
them being in there too. Now then, what’s the problem…

7
ACADEMIC ENGLISH II
Grammatical Metaphor – Nominalisations

EXERCISE 3 (From Bloor and Bloor, 2013, p. 139)

Suggest a more congruent way of expressing the following examples:

1. …her announcement that her husband’s spirit had contacted her…


2. …a decision years ago that no patent for such a device would be considered…


3. …the possibility of the publication of a similar book…


4. Our interest in crystals is understandable.


5. The reason a keel boat will lean much more easily is that she presents no resitance in
the shape of a hard bilge.


6. The success of the I-Ching lies largely in its rather flattering and generally non-
threatening messages.


7. The search for the elusive substance has led to the discovery of several processes of
merit.


8. A better crumb structure gives the soil more stability.

8
ACADEMIC ENGLISH II
Grammatical Metaphor – Nominalisations

EXERCISE 4 (From Bloor and Bloor, 2013, p. 139)

Consider the following two sentences, one of which actually occurred in a popular science
book, and one which is a rewritten version.

(1) The higher the melting point of a substance, the higher the boiling point.
(2) If a substance melts at a high temperature, it will boil at a high temperature.

(a) Which one seems to you the more congruent form?
(b) Which one do you think is the original? Why?

EMBEDDING VS DEPENDENCY (From Bloor and Bloor, 2013, p. 209)

Compare the following examples:

(a) Nick said there were fifty of you.
(b) Nick’s statement that there were fifty of you.
(a) is a clause complex and (b) is a nominal group. It could show up as Subject (Nick’s
statement that there were fifty of you was a lie) or as a Complement (No one
believed Nick’s statement that there were fifty of you) or in any other function
available to a nominal group. The nominalized process statement is the Head of
the group and the projection is an embedded clause postmodifying the head.

9
ACADEMIC ENGLISH II
Grammatical Metaphor – Nominalisations

EXERCISE 5 (From Bloor and Bloor, 2013, p. 220)
Following the example given, provide nominalised agnates for the clauses below.
Example: We asume that x equals y.
Answer: … our assumption that x equals y … or … our assumption of the equality of x and y…
1. He insists that he is innocent


2. The court declared that the contracts were invalid


3. She concluded that he was lying




EXERCISE 6 (From Bloor and Bloor, 2013, p. 221)
Following the example given, provide a more congruent version of the structures below.
Example: At the king’s insistence, a fresh peace conference was arranged
Answer: Because the King insisted on it, a fresh peace conference was arranged.
Or The King insisted and so they arranged to confer again about not fighting.


His upbringing, education and training had been based on the assumption that in any
situation his class were the natural leaders.

10