Nominalisatie
Turn a verb into a noun and a whole clause fits into three words.
Formal Dutch is built out of nouns made from verbs: de uitvoering, het toenemen, de verbetering. The move buys density — instead of a clause with a subject and a verb, you get a phrase you can put anywhere in the sentence. It is the difference between writing like a speaker and writing like a report. Overdone it becomes unreadable, which is why the skill is knowing when one nominalisation earns its place, not converting everything.
How the exam tests this
Schrijven, in the medium task, where you are asked to describe a problem and propose a solution and given very little room to do it. Nominalisation is how the description fits: de toename van het aantal klachten says in one phrase what a clause would spend a line on, leaving the space for the solution. Two assessors are reading a short text where every line has to carry weight. In Lezen it works the other way — official texts are dense with these nouns, and unpacking one back into its verb is often how you work out what the sentence actually claims.
What is wrong with this sentence?
Dat er meer klachten komen vraagt om een structurele oplossing.
Most candidates write it exactly like this and lose the mark without knowing why.
The rest of this lesson
The rule, the worked examples, the exceptions and what to do in the exam room open with Mastery, together with every other lesson for this exam.
See plans