INTRODUCCION TO ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC
PURPOSES
FEATURES OF ACADEMIC WRITING
Academic writing in English is linear and direct, without digressions or repetitions, its objective is to inform
rather than entertain. In academic writing is used a formal language.
There are 6 main features of academic writing:
COMPLEXITY: written language is grammatically more complex than spoken language. Written texts are
lexically dense compared to spoken language – they have proportionately more lexical words than grammatical
words. Common features in academic written texts are:
•Subordinate clauses/embedding: which -> There are several factors which help to prolong this period
to perhaps three or four times that in the male.
•Complement clauses:
• That-clauses -> This conforms conveniently with Maslow’s (1970) claim that human motivation
is related to a hierarchy of human needs.
• To-clauses ->Britain’s apparent ability to rally Commonwealth support at Chicago seemed to
the AMERICANS TO BE EVIDENCE OF Britain’s continued world power.
• Of+ing-clauses -> The possibility of increasing dollar receipts was coupled with a belief that
Africa could be a strategic centre for British power.
•Sequences of prepositional phrases -> This article analyses the constitutional aspects behind the
formation of the first and second National Governments, examining in particular the role of the king in
the formation of the two governments.
•Participles: formal written English uses verbs less than spoken English –ed and –ing participles allow
verbs to be used nominally or adjectively. -> Similar temptations overcame philosophers concerned
with establishing a secure base for individual responsibility.
•Passive verbs: In spoken English we use passive to avoid subjects such as “people”, “somebody”,
“they”, “we”… -> The new computer system is being installed next month. (They’re installing the new
computer system next month.)
•Lexical density: Written English is more lexically dense if we define lexical density as the number of
content words in a clause. -> Obviously the government is frightened of union reaction to its move to
impose proper behavior on unions. (Obviously the government is frightened how the unions will react if
it tries to make them behave properly.)
•Lexical complexity: adding affixes to existing words (the base) to form new words. Prefixes are added
to the front, suffixes are added to the end. Prefixes usually do not change the class of the base word, but
suffixes usually do change the class of the word. The most common prefixes are: re-, dis-, over-, un-,
mis-, out-. The most common suffixes are: -ise, -en, -ate, -(i)fy. By far the most common affix in
academic English is –ise.
•Nominalisation: formal written English uses nouns more than verbs. -> This information enables the
formulation of precise questions. (This information enables us to formulate precise questions.)
• Associated with nominalization is the occurrence of prepositional phrases, introduced by of
(judgment of those). –tion is the most common suffix used in this way (alteration). Others are: -
ity (ability), -ness (darkness), -ment (development), -ship (friendship), -age (mileage), -ery
(robbery), -al (arrival), -ance (assistance).
•Noun-bases phrases: formal written English uses nounms more than verbs. -> Like all other forms of
life, we human beings are the product of evolution. (Like all other forms of lie, we human beings are the
product of how we have envolved.)
•Modification of noun-phrases: written English is lexically dense- there is a higher proportion of
content words per clause. This can be done by modification o noun-phrases.
• Premodifier + noun:
■Adjective-> the constitutional aspects.
■Ed-participle-> a balanced budget
LESSON 1
