Write first, without a noun-form target
Writing · C1 baseline · No nominalisation prompt
A neighbourhood library had an overnight leak in its basement. Staff moved a book-swap shelf to the foyer while the library stayed open. Two days later a regional headline called this “the rescue of the town’s library”. You may use this fictional case or a traceable public story you know.
Write a 90–110-word formal note for a reader who wants to know what happened and whether the headline is justified.
- Write for four minutes without consulting a noun-formation list. State the event, who acted, what the headline implies and what you would still need to check.
- Underline no forms while writing. Preserve the first version exactly as it is; absence of nominalisation is useful evidence.
- Ask a reader to record the event and the claim they think the note supports. Working alone, read it after a delay and mark the result as self-evidence.
Choose what the first attempt can establish.
1. The note names the actors and the unsupported headline accurately but uses no obvious nominalisation. What should be recorded?
2. The reader thinks the building closed, although the note meant only the basement shelf moved. Which evidence matters first?
Three records, one shelf and a larger headline
The foyer shelf · Original fictional source packet
Library notice, 14 June 2025: “Rainwater entered the basement overnight. Staff moved the book-swap shelf and its contents to the foyer this morning. The library remains open on its usual hours. The basement exchange is unavailable while the leak is assessed; we do not yet have a date for its return.”
Community-radio interview, 16 June 2025: Volunteer Mara said that she and two other volunteers carried fourteen boxes to the foyer after staff asked for help. “I think more people noticed the shelf there,” she said, “but we did not count visitors.” The interview did not establish whether borrowing rose.
Regional article, 18 June 2025: The headline read “A town rescues its library”. The article showed a photograph of volunteers moving boxes and reported that the book-swap shelf had been relocated after a leak. It also said the main library stayed open. The headline suggested a threatened institution; the body described a temporary change to one service.
Source status is part of the story
| Claim | What the packet supports | What remains open |
|---|---|---|
| A shelf moved | The library notice and article report a move to the foyer | The basement exchange return date |
| Volunteers helped | Mara reports three volunteers and fourteen boxes | The exact division of work between staff and volunteers |
| More people noticed it | Mara reports an impression | Visitor counts and any change in borrowing |
| The library was rescued | The headline uses that frame | No source says the institution closed or faced closure |
Choose the answer licensed by the source packet.
1. What was moved after the leak?
2. Which statement about borrowing is supported?
3. What tension does the regional article create?
4. Which date or status is still unknown in the packet?
Notice what a noun packages, and what it may hide
First diagnostic lens · Derivation comes in Lesson 3
| Clause or phrase | What becomes prominent | What must remain recoverable |
|---|---|---|
| Staff moved the shelf. | Actor and action | When, where and why |
| the relocation of the shelf to the foyer | The move as a topic for further discussion | Staff as actor when responsibility matters |
| the temporary closure of the basement exchange | A bounded service interruption | That the main library stayed open |
| the rescue of the library | A dramatic completed result | Evidence of a real threat and of what was saved |
| increased use of the shelf | A measured-sounding trend | Counts or a clear limit on Mara’s impression |
Turning an action or quality into a noun changes the reader’s focus. Relocation can make the shelf’s move a topic for analysis; it can also leave out who moved it. A noun can sound as if an event or result is settled. In this packet, the library’s rescue and increased use claim more than the sources establish. Keep a clause when the actor, time or uncertainty is the important information. A formal style is precise when its packaging stays accountable.
Match each phrase to its effect in this source packet.
Choose the phrase or clause that keeps the intended claim within the record.
1. A formal paragraph needs to discuss the physical move as one topic. Which wording is defensible?
2. The writer must say who carried the boxes. Which choice is clearest?
3. Mara thinks more people noticed the shelf, but none were counted. What may the writer say?
Make the formal paragraph readable and accountable
Order these sentences into a paragraph that evaluates the regional headline from the available record.
- The headline therefore enlarges a temporary change to one service into a story about saving the whole library.
- Its own account says that staff moved one book-swap shelf to the foyer after an overnight leak while the library remained open.
- A more exact account would name the shelf, the leak and the people who moved the boxes before discussing any wider meaning.
- The regional article calls the episode “the rescue of the town’s library”.
- The relocation is documented, but a threat to the institution is not.
Rewrite each draft line for a formal account. Preserve actor, source and evidential limit; the models are possible repairs.
Headline claim → bounded event
The town rescued its closing library.
Unmeasured result → attributed impression
The relocation increased borrowing across the town.
Hidden agency → named actors
The relocation of fourteen boxes was undertaken.
Heavy noun stack → clear relationship
The library rescue representation generated an institutional closure perception.
Prosody check · One information group
Read aloud “the temporary relocation of the book-swap shelf to the foyer” and then “staff moved the shelf to the foyer”.
Notice whether a listener can recover the object, destination and actor in each version.
- Mark the main stress in each version and where a pause lets the listener process the long noun phrase.
- If the actor matters to the claim, name staff in the following clause rather than relying on the noun phrase to imply them.
Write a formal account that a reader can audit
Extended diagnostic · Formal writing · 180–220 words
A local editor asks for a short formal analysis of how the library incident became a regional story. Use the supplied fictional packet, or use a public story for which you can provide equivalent source notes and exact locations. The reader has not seen the records.
Write 180–220 words that distinguish the event, the headline frame and what remains unverified, using noun phrases only where they improve the account.
- Minutes 1–3 · map: list the notice, interview and article; beside each write what it establishes, who says it and one limit. For another public case, capture the same source fields.
- Minutes 4–11 · write: open with the documented event, then compare the regional frame with the body and interview. Name actors when responsibility matters; use a noun phrase where an established action needs to become a topic. Do not force a target-form count.
- Minutes 12–14 · cold read: ask an unfamiliar reader to identify what moved, who helped, whether the library closed, what Mara only inferred and what the headline suggests. Working alone, wait and reconstruct without your source map.
- Minutes 15–16 · annotate: circle whole noun phrases that package an action or quality; underline every named actor and source limit. Record zero target forms honestly if none appeared.
- Minute 17 · save: preserve the warm-up baseline, extended account, source map, reader reconstruction and one phrase whose information load needs testing in Lesson 2.
Reader record · What can you recover?
| Question | Evidence to cite |
|---|---|
| What physically happened? | The shelf, the foyer and the basement leak |
| Who acted? | Staff and the volunteers, with Mara’s role attributed to her report |
| What did not happen in the record? | No reported closure of the main library |
| What remains an impression? | Mara’s view that more people noticed the shelf |
| What does the headline add? | A rescue frame larger than the documented service change |
| Where did wording make recovery harder? | Exact clause or noun phrase and the interpretation it prompted |
Find the first place where packaging changed the claim
Choose the feedback supported by the reader record.
1. The reader interprets “the closure of the library” as a closed building, but the writer meant the basement exchange was unavailable. What should the writer test?
2. The paragraph says “the relocation” and the reader cannot tell who moved the shelf. What is the smallest next move?
3. The writer used no nominalisation, but the reader correctly separates event, headline and uncertainty. What can be concluded?
Keep a specific inquiry for Lesson 2
Compare the saved 90–110-word note, 180–220-word account and reader reconstruction.
Record one secure choice, one consequential seam and one candidate that needs an authentic-input comparison.
- Quote one sentence whose actor, action and source limit the reader recovered correctly.
- For the seam, quote the exact noun phrase or clause, the intended claim and the different claim recovered.
- Write a question for authentic formal journalism: “When does a writer make this action a noun, and where do actor and evidence reappear?”
Carry the baseline into authentic formal writing
Choose the material Lesson 2 needs.
1. What should the learner bring to compare with an academic-journalism essay?
Standing informal-input bridge
Choose one complete academic-journalism essay, for example from Aeon, and one London Review of Books piece. Record creator, title, publication and exact paragraph location of one long noun phrase in each. Paraphrase what happened in a clause, then note whether the published phrase keeps actor, source and uncertainty recoverable. Bring the two observations and today’s baseline question to Lesson 2; do not copy the source wording into the saved diagnostic.