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Conversion: Noun To Verb Conversion

The document discusses conversion in English grammar, where a word changes form without changing spelling or pronunciation, such as a noun becoming a verb like 'email'. It provides examples of common noun-to-verb and verb-to-noun conversions in English and notes conversion can also occur between other parts of speech less frequently.

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Abhimanyu Singh
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9K views4 pages

Conversion: Noun To Verb Conversion

The document discusses conversion in English grammar, where a word changes form without changing spelling or pronunciation, such as a noun becoming a verb like 'email'. It provides examples of common noun-to-verb and verb-to-noun conversions in English and notes conversion can also occur between other parts of speech less frequently.

Uploaded by

Abhimanyu Singh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Conversion

Conversion is the word formation process in which a word of one grammatical


form becomes a word of another grammatical form without any changes to
spelling or pronunciation. For example, the noun email appeared in English
before the verb: a decade ago I would have sent you an email (noun) whereas
now I can either send you an email (noun) or simply email (verb) you. The
original noun email experienced conversion, thus resulting in the new verb
email.

Noun to Verb Conversion


The most productive form of conversion in English is noun to verb conversion.
The following list provides examples of verbs converted from nouns:

Noun – Verb

access – to access

bottle – to bottle

can – to can

closet – to closet

email – to email

eye – to eye

fiddle – to fiddle

fool – to fool

Google – to google

host – to host

knife – to knife

microwave – to microwave

name – to name
pocket – to pocket

salt – to salt

shape – to shape

ship – to ship

spear – to spear

torch – to torch

verb – to verb

For example:
My grandmother bottled (verb) the juice and canned (verb) the pickles.

My grandmother put the juice in a bottle (noun) and the pickles in a can
(noun).

She microwaved (verb) her lunch.

She heated her lunch in the microwave (noun).

The doctor eyed (verb) my swollen eye (noun).

Verb to Noun Conversion


Another productive form of conversion in English is verb to noun conversion.
The following list provides examples of nouns converted from verbs:

Verb – Noun

to alert – alert

to attack – attack

to call – call

to clone – clone

to command – command
to cover – cover

to cry – cry

to experience – experience

to fear – fear

to feel – feel

to hope – hope

to increase – increase

to judge – judge

to laugh – laugh

to rise – rise

to run – run

to sleep – sleep

to start – start

to turn – turn

to visit – visit

For example:
The guard alerted (verb) the general to the attack (noun).

The enemy attacked (verb) before an alert (noun) could be sounded.

Sometimes one just needs a good cry (noun).

The baby cried (verb) all night.

We need to increase (verb) our productivity to see an increase (noun) in


profits.

Other Conversions
Conversion also occurs, although less frequently, to and from other
grammatical forms.

For example:
adjective to verb: green → to green (to make environmentally friendly)

preposition to noun: up, down → the ups and downs of life

conjunction to noun: if, and, but → no ifs, ands, or buts

interjection to noun: ho ho ho → I love the ho ho hos of Christmas,me.

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