Aspects of Professional and Academic Language

ASPECTS OF
PROFESSIONAL
AND Academic
Language
FOUR IMPORTANT
FEATURES OF
LANGUAGE use that
you need to know
about:
Formality,
Objectivity,
Explicitness,
Caution
FORMALITY
Reflects your dignified stance in your writing as a
member of academic community.
This means that since your audience are fellow

members of academic community,
the language you use requires precision to make it a

“legitimate” piece of academic writing
Formality can be
achieved through
the following
ways”
1. Choosing EXPANDED MODALS
forms OVER CONTRACTED FORMS,
such as using
CANNOT instead of CANT,

DO NOT instead of DONT
2. Choosing ONE VERB form OVER
TWO-VERBS , such as
DAMAGE instead of MESS UP

3. Choosing EXPANDED terms over
their ABBREVIATED EQUIVALENTS,
such as
AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
instead of ASAP
4. Avoiding
COLLOQUIAL/TRITE/IDIOMATIC
EXPRESSION, such as
Such as kind of like, AS A

MATTER OF FACT, I NEED
TO GO TO JOHN.
Academic Writing REQUIRES
SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE and USE OF
MORE COMPLEX LANGUAGE AND
OBJECTIVITY OBJECTIVITY.
This means that the WRITING MUST

BE IMPERSONAL and MAINTAIN A
CERTAIN LEVEL OF SOCIAL
DISTANCE.
Objectivity can
be achieved
by:
1. Avoiding the use of PERSONAL
PRONOUNS such as you, I and We
Poor example: You need to
conduct the experiment.
Improved Version: The
researchers need to conduct the
experiment
1. Avoiding RHETORICAL
QUESTIONS as it marks
“CLOSENESS” with the
reader, and constantly seeks
his/her attention,
• Poor example: How can these
problem be solved?
• Improved Version: Certain
measures must be discovered
to solve the problems
3. Avoiding EMOTIVE LANGUAGE
that SHOWS BIASES and LESSENS
OBJECTIVITY
• Poor example: The investigators were
very shocked to see the outcome of the
test
• Improved Version: The investigators did
not expected to result
EXPLICITNESS
Academic Writing demands the use of signposts
that allow readers to trace the relationship in
the parts of a study
If you intend to show a change in your

line of argument, make it clear by using
HOWEVER:
EXAMPLE:
It is a apparent that the
government hopes to provide
assistance to the poor. However,
giving dole outs to the “poorest of
the poor” does not work in the
long term.
The following
phrases may be
useful in making
ideas explicit:
1. This is due to the….
-caused by or ascribable to.
"unemployment due to
automation will grow steadily“
-because of; owing to.
"he had to withdraw due to a
knee injury"
1. This is due to the….
A number of Meralco consumers
trooped to the city hall to claim a PHP
500 cash incentive. This is due to the
Supreme Court ruling that over charges
must be returned to the end users
whose electric consumption for the
April-May period was below 100kw/hr.
2. This resulted in….
-a consequence, effect, or
outcome of something
"the tower collapsed as a
result of safety violations
2. This resulted in….
With the Supreme Court ordering
MERALCO to return overcharges to the
end users, government offices have been
tapped to operate as claim centers. This
resulted in a number of MERALCO
consumers trooping the City Hall to
claim the PHP 500.00 cash incentives
When two ideas seem the same, Express
Each One Clearly.
The study showed that eighty percent of
the 200 participants involved in the study,
were dissatisfied with the operations of
MERALCO. Similarly, the data revealed that
majority of the participants were not aware
of the data charges imposed on them by
MERALCO
If you intend to give extra information in
your sentence, make it clear by Writing
”In addition…”
MERALCO has been operating as a
business conglomerate involving foreign
stakeholders and independent power
producers or IPP. In addition , MERALCO
owns major IPPs operating in the region.
If you are giving examples , do so
explicitly by writing “For Example..”
The MERALCO issues has led to disputes
between opposition and administration
senators. For example, those who have
been labeled as against the president
considered the issue as the
administration’s way of avoiding the
NBN-ZTE scandal
CAUTION
Academic writing REQUIRES CARE since
KNOWLEDGE IS BUILD FORM PROVEN
THEORIES AND CONCEPTS. Therefore,
CAUTION IS NEEDED TO AVOID SWEEPING
GENERALIZATIONS. Consider the
following example:
Government officials are corrupt.
The statement is NOT COMPLETELY
TRUE AND THE RHETORICAL
IMPACT OF THE STATEMENT may
be MISLEADING. The statement
CAN BE IMPROVED THROUGH THE
USE OF DEVICES such as MODAL
VERBS, ADVERBS , OR VERBS
Improved versions:
Some government officials may be
corrupt. (modal verb)
Corruption is commonly linked to some
key government officials (adverb)
A number of government officials tend
to be linked with cases of corruption.
(verb)
In Academic Writing , CAUTION NEED TO BE
OBSERVED in the following parts of your
paper:
1. When a hypothesis need to be tested
2. Drawing conclusions or predictions from
your findings that may generalize certain
matters or may not be conclusive
3. Referencing others work to build on
your own paper
Here are some forms
that you may use in
observing caution in
writing.
Verbs indicating
caution: tends,
suggests, appear to be,
think, believe, doubt,
indicate
Example:
The findings of the survey suggests
that students who use the social
networking site in their academic
work tend to be more updated on
recent developments in their
respective subjects.
Modal verbs: will ,
must, would, may,
can ,might, could
Example:
The observations of students
use of social networking sites
may lead to the different
behaviors that manifest in
real- life communication.
Adverb of frequency:
Often, sometimes, usually
The essays that were
given marks usually
high.
SEATWORK NO. 2
Underline the words or expressions considered
as COLLOQUIAL.
1.With the growing number of health- conscious
articles, a lot of young professionals are
becoming serious about maintaining a healthy
life-style
2.It is a bit improper to assume that the plan
does not work.
Rewrite the following sentences to observe
a MORE FORMAL TONE
3.Writing cant be done effectively if you
don’t burn the midnight oil.
4. Watching that romcom gave the audience
the feels
5.Parenting is a 24/7job.
Substitute the single-word verb for the
two-word verb in the following
sentences.
6. _____________Senate set up the
meralco committee.
7. _____________Mothers cut down
spending on rice.
8. _____________Oil price has gone up.
Improve the text below by rewriting it
into a more objective, impersonal
version.
9. You need to observe your words
while talking to other people.
10. The Examinees where very shocked
about the LET (Licensure Examination
for Teachers) Passing Rate.
Seatwork 3
Based on the examples given, write
a sentence for each of the following
expressions. That would make your
idea explicit
1.However
2. This is due to the
3. Similarly
4. In Addition
5. For Example.

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ASPECTS OF

This means that since your audience are fellow

the language you use requires precision to make it a

CANNOT instead of CANT,

DAMAGE instead of MESS UP

Such as kind of like, AS A

This means that the WRITING MUST

If you intend to show a change in your

2. This is due to the

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