As we have seen in the previous three High English grammar quizzes, nominalisation is the process by which verbs or adjectives are converted into nouns. This is the first of two quizzes that looks at nominalisation using the 'ing' form of a word, or the gerund.
A word is nominalised by adding a suffix to the verb or the adjective. For instance, the verb ‘compel’ is nominalised to ‘compulsion’ by adding the suffix ‘-sion’ with modifications, or ‘participate’ is converted into ‘participation’ after nominalisation by adding ‘-ation’ with modifications. Similarly, an adjective such as ‘beautiful’ is converted into ‘beauty’ after nominalisation. Apart from the nominalisation of verbs and adjectives with suffixes we have already looked at in the previous quizzes, there is another way of nominalisation - using the ‘-ing’ form. This form is the gerund.