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This is kind of a follow-up question to this one: [Problem with のが in this
sentence](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/46538/problem-
with-%e3%81%ae%e3%81%8c-in-this-
sentence/46556?noredirect=1#comment83305_46556)

To give a quick overview, in this sentence そこで、マッカーサーが自分で作って見た **の** が地図Aである
**の** had a function I must admit I still can't really explain^^ To me it kind
of works like a nominalizer, but if you follow the answers in the thread you
will find that it is (also) something else.

However, I thought that this might be worth a new thread: Could one replace の
with こと here? Both can be used as nominalizers, and maybe I can better
differentiate between の as a mere nominalizer and の in the function of the
respective construction above, if someone explains to me why こと can/can't be
used here instead of の ^^
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question
grammar
こと vs. の in this sentence
They are all natural as Japanese sentences and sound almost the same;

  * そこで、マッカーサーが自分で作って見た **の** が地図Aである。
  * そこで、マッカーサーが自分で作って見た **もの** が地図Aである。
  * そこで、マッカーサーが自分で作って見た **地図** が地図Aである。

But,

  * そこで、マッカーサーが自分で作って見た **こと** が地図Aである。 This is not natural as a Japanese sentence.
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の is called a nominalizer when it turns a verb into a noun that means "(the
act of) ～ing".

>   * **食べるの** が好きです。  
>  I like eating.
>   * 明日寿司を **食べるの** を楽しみにしています。  
>  I am looking forward to eating sushi tomorrow.
>   * 晩ご飯を **食べるの** と風呂に **入るの** 、どっちがいい？  
>  Which do you like, eating dinner or taking a bath?
>

This type of の is sometimes interchangeable with こと. For details see this
question: [What is the difference between the nominalizers こと and
の?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1395/5010)

However in cleft sentences の does not do that.

>   * 明日寿司を **食べるの** は太郎です。  
>  It's Taro who will eat sushi tomorrow.
>   * 明日太郎が **食べるの** は寿司です。  
>  It's sushi that Taro will eat tomorrow.
>   * 太郎が寿司を **食べるの** は明日です。  
>  It's tomorrow that Taro will eat sushi.
>   * 明日太郎が寿司を **食べるの** は銀座です。  
>  It's in Ginza (town) that Taro will eat sushi tomorrow.
>   * 明日太郎が寿司を **食べるの** は誕生日だからです。  
>  It's because it's his birthday that he will eat sushi tomorrow.
>

In the first sentence の is a placeholder for a person (Taro); in the second
sentence, a thing (sushi); in the third sentence, a certain time point
(tomorrow); and in the last sentence, a reason!

If you treated this の as a nominalizer, the first sentence would be translated
as something like "[×] Eating sushi tomorrow is Taro," which does not make
sense.

Finally, this type of の is not interchangeable with こと. You have to always use
の to form a cleft sentence.
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