Exercise 1: Glencore

Here is an extract from the chief executive’s statement in the 2020 annual report of Glencore, a mining and raw materials trading company. Please mark nominalisations. Separately, note abstract or generalised language. Try to rewrite the two paragraphs by substituting nominalisations with verbs, and concrete language with abstract words and phrases.

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Although some of our industrial assets were required to temporarily suspend operations during the year in line with national and regional guidance, or where our risk assessment determined it was appropriate to do so, the majority of our assets continued to operate relatively normally after implementation of appropriate precautionary measures. Across our industry, the impacts were most notable in Peru, South Africa and Colombia, while Australia and Canada were relatively unaffected. The cumulative impacts of mine supply disruption helped to offset the initial demand shock from rapid lockdowns and the corresponding slowdown in global economic activity.

While demand remained challenging in many key global economies, China’s rapid recovery, combined with material global central bank and governmental fiscal support, improved supply/ demand fundamentals and started to generate favourable sector sentiment and price momentum. Average price performances for our key metals commodities’ benchmarks was largely flat to slightly lower year-on-year, although this outcome reflects two very different halves, from recessionary pricing conditions in March/April to multi-year highs towards the end of the year.