Style and Appropriateness Formal or informal? Formal: academic, official, business

Written academic English will not normally contain the followings Contractions –‘it did not’ instead of ‘it didn’t’ or ‘they have’ not ‘they’ve’ Hesitation Fillers –er, um well, you know … Familiar Language –personal pronouns: I, you, we –impersonal pronouns: it, there, one; passive tenses

Exercise: Informal/Formal I We’ll finish the job next year. The project will be completed next year. I wonder why he put up with those terrible conditions for so long. It is not clear why such terrible conditions were tolerated for so long. He’ll have to do another 5 tests before he can stop the experiment. Five more tests will be necessary before the experiment can be concluded.

Exercise: Informal/Formal II I showed that his arguments did not hold water. It has been proved that the arguments so far are without foundation. There are a number of reasons why the questionnaire should be revised. It is possible to consider the results from a different viewpoint.

A Feature of Written academic English is the Need to be Careful Indicate ‘less than 100%’ certainty. Show that one is generalising or desires to be cautious, or even that one might possibly be wrong (though it is not likely!). Definite: Industrialisation is viewed as a superior way of life. More tentative or cautious: Industrialisation tends to be viewed as a superior way of life.

The Most Usual Ways of Expressing Caution of Lack of Certainty Verbs: appears to/ seems to/ tends to/ may / might Adverbs: perhaps/ possibly/ probably/ apparently Examples: It is also likely to appear in the development of institutions … Perhaps greater clarity can be brought to the meaning of economic development … The ideal of economic development tends to be associated with...