Nouns include:

people		the Pope, James, the author
places		the corner store, Alaska, the virtual classroom
objects/concepts		dictionaries, the economy, the Depression era
(these types of nouns include tangible objects as well as abstract ones).

In academic writing, nouns are often used as part of large nominal groups. Nominal groups are groups of words that provide more information about people, places or concepts. The Depression era is an example of a nominal group because it includes more information than just the 'thing' itself: Depression classifies the particular era. Nominal groups are important because they typically provide the content in a text (what something is about); in academic writing this content can be very sophisticated, abstract and complex.

Here are some examples of nominal groups from academic writing:

the major policy priority

the establishment of the Union Club in Sydney

the rate of economic growth

the practice of responsible government in Britain

Nominal groups in academic writing often include nominalisations. In the process of nominalisation, verbs or actions are transformed to nouns or nominal groups.

Look at the example

The company decided to expand its asset base.

The verb 'decide' can be nominalised into the noun 'the decision'

The decision to expand the asset base ...

The nominalised verb then becomes the head noun of the nominal group and further explanatory or contextual information can be added to the nominal group.

The decision to expand the company's asset base was a significant shift in the company's financial strategy.

Need to revise the unit on nominalisations?