有人戲說道，老外眼中的托福寫作考試句子分為3個檔次，最差的是主動句，較好的是被動句，倒裝句等，最好的nominalization(名詞化)的句子，這樣的句子最學術最適合寫論文。那么面對這樣的差異，我們需要重新審視我們寫作中的思維方式，做到如何恰到好處又不“畫蛇添足”。

簡單說，名詞化即是動詞或形容詞被用作名詞的現象。比如動詞轉成名詞：discovery->discovery， move->movement， refuse->refusal，又比如形容詞轉成名詞：careless->carelessness， difficult->difficulty， intense->intensity。那么什么情況下，我們需要進行名詞化呢?

A 謂語動詞的賓語部分

原句：I do not know either what she meant or what he intends.

名詞化：I do not know either her meaning or his intentions.

B 結合被動形式

原句：If people decide without enough persuasive information，...

名詞化：If a decision is made without enough persuasive information，...

C 取代諸如從句中“the fact that”的用法

原句：The fact that I denied what he accused me of impressed the jury.

名詞化：My denial of his accusations impressed the jury.

更好的名詞化：a. When I denied his accusations， I impressed the jury.

b. In denying his accusations， I impressed the jury.

D 名詞化部分用在there is/are的后面

原句：We demand that the government stop taxing entertainment.

名詞化：There is a demand for an end to taxation on entertainment.

原句：The floods considerably eroded the land.

名詞化：There was considerable erosion of the land from the floods.

然而，有些時候，在我們的思維方式中認為理所應當使用“名詞化”時，老外認為是沒有必要的。比如：

A 名詞化部分跟在動詞后面

原句(名詞化“冗余”)：The police conducted an investigation into the matter.

改后：The police investigated the matter.

B 名詞化部分作為主語

原句：Our discussion is concerned with a tax cut.

改后：We discussed a tax cut.

C 連續進行名詞化

原句：a. First， she reviewed the evolution of the dorsal fin.

b. There was a first a review of the evolution of the dorsal fin.

改后：First， she reviewed how the dorsal fin evolved.

D 連接部分名詞化

原句：Their cessation of hostilities was because of their personnel losses.

改后：They ceased hostilities because they lost personnel.

原句：The instability of the motor housing did not preclude the completion of the field trials.

改后：Even though the motor housing was unstable， the research staff completed the field trials.

以上這些情況是我們中國學生在托福寫作考試中很常見的名詞化缺失或名詞化濫用的例子。對于新托福寫作來說，在保證基本的語言語法不出錯的基礎上，如果能更多地正確使用名詞化，文章不但更地道，也更易取得高分。