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

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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...