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Sprint 3.3: What The Package Hides

Learner recognises when a nominalisation has removed information the argument needed — chiefly the doer — and restores it.

7 micro-lessons

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Who Did It?

Six sentences. In two of them, nobody did — and that is fine.

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The council's decision to close the libraries was unpopular. Who decided?

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The Doer Goes Missing First

What the conversion drops, when that is fine, and the two-word repair.

What the conversion drops

The verb's subject.

The council decided to close the libraries.
→ the decision to close the libraries

The decision now belongs to nobody. Nothing in the phrase says who made it.

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Needs the Doer, or Does Not

Twelve sentences. Five of them are fine without one.

Sort each item into the correct category

The argument needs to know who

Fine without a doer

Unassigned

The decision to close the libraries was unpopular.

Rapid urban growth has strained services.

The failure to enforce the rules explains the outcome.

An increase in rainfall damaged the crop.

A reduction in funding followed.

The introduction of charges reduced usage.

The refusal to release the report drew criticism.

The decline in manufacturing began in the 1970s.

The cancellation of the contract cost four hundred jobs.

The spread of the disease slowed in winter.

The rejection of the appeal ended the case.

The expansion of the suburbs continued for decades.

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Restore the Doer

Eight sentences with context above each. Three need nothing.

Read the context, then decide. Five sentences need the doer put back; three are better left alone — write no change for those.

0 of 8 blanks filled

The argument is that the council acted against its voters. The decision to close the libraries was unpopular. → decision to close the libraries was unpopular.
The paragraph is about why a city outgrew its infrastructure. Rapid urban growth has strained services. →
The argument is that ministers ignored their own rules. The failure to enforce them explains the outcome. → failure to enforce them explains the outcome.
The paragraph is about the effect of charges on passenger numbers. The introduction of charges reduced usage. →
The argument is that the department, not the schools, caused the shortfall. A reduction in funding followed. → reduction in funding followed.
The previous sentence reads: The government reviewed the scheme in 2020. The introduction of charges followed. →
The argument is that the board, not the market, ended the contract. The cancellation cost four hundred jobs. → cancellation cost four hundred jobs.
The argument is that the court closed the case, not the claimant. The rejection of the appeal ended it. → rejection of the appeal ended it.

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Two Packages, One Owner

Name the doer in one, drop it in the other, and defend the drop.

Write two sentences using nominalisations — one naming the doer, one deliberately leaving it out — then say why the second one can do without.

Topic: a government cutting arts funding.

Sentence 1: use a nominalisation and name the doer. Sentence 2: use a nominalisation and leave the doer out on purpose.

Then say in one line why sentence 2 does not need it.

Your two sentences*

One per line.

Why sentence 2 can do without it*

One or two sentences.

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Who Is Responsible

You left the doer out. Was that a decision or a gap?

Learners can ask follow-up questions and keep the thread going.

Take a sentence where you used a noun phrase like the decision, the reduction or the failure without saying whose.

Was that because the reader does not need to know — or because you were not sure?

One sentence.

just now

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