Study materials
One event, two ways of naming it. In the second it has become a thing.
Prices rose sharply.
the sharp rise in prices
That shift is called nominalisation. The action becomes a noun, and it can then be handled like any other thing: made a subject, an object, given modifiers.
How the form is built
The suffix is not the main thing. The main thing is choosing the noun that actually exists and attaching the participants correctly.
| Verb | Noun | How it attaches |
|---|---|---|
| analyse | analysis | the analysis of the data |
| refuse | refusal | his refusal to comment |
| increase | increase | the increase in prices |
| fail | failure | the failure of the system |
The preposition after the noun is not free: it belongs to the word. English says the increase in prices, not the increase of prices, and the reason for delay, not the reason of delay.
The participants beside the noun
When a verb becomes a noun, its subject and object have to find new places. There are two ways: a possessive form or a preposition.
The board refused to comment. → the board's refusal to comment
They analysed the data. → the analysis of the data
Notice that in the second example the doer has vanished. That is not an accident but the central property of this construction.
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is choosing the preposition by Ukrainian logic.
the increase of prices → the increase in prices
The second is inventing a noun that does not exist.
the discussment of the plan → the discussion of the plan
The third is losing the article before a countable noun.
Refusal to comment was expected. → The refusal to comment was expected.
All three are caught by one question. Does this noun actually exist, and what does it pull along with it?
Try it right now
Take three sentences from your own field and turn each into a noun phrase.
Then check the preposition in each: is it really the one this noun requires?