ASPECTS OF

PROFESSIONAL AND
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
What are the activities in La Union
that the writer described?
What is the purpose of this text?
What is the role of the writer in
doing this piece?
What are the possible audience for
this piece?
Would you visit the place after
reading the blog entry? Why or why
not?
FORMALITY
Formality reflects your dignified
stance in your writing as a member
of the academic community. This
means that since your audience are
fellow members of the 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:
Choosing expanded modal forms
over contracted forms, such as using
cannot instead of can’t, do not
instead of don’t.
Choosing one verb form over tw-
word verbs, such as damage instead
of mess up.
Formality can be achieved through
the following ways:
Choosing expanded terms over their
abbreviated equivalents, such as as
soon as possible instead of ASAP
Avoiding colloquial/ trite/ idiomatic
expressions, such as kind of like, as
a matter of fact, I need to go to the
John.
TASK 1 – Underline the words or
expressions considered as colloquial

With the growing number of health-

conscious articles, a lot of young
professionals are becoming serious
about maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
It is a bit improper to assume that
the plan does not work
 Experts determined that a lot of
health ingredients come from China.
Teachers say that a lot of incoming
freshman students are interested in
sports activity.
 Lucas got together with Castro in
conducting an experiment on
effectively enhancing muscle build-up.
Rewrite the following sentences to
observe a more formal tone

Writing can’t be done effectively if

you don’t burn the midnight oil.
Parenting is a 24/7 job.
Watching that romcom gave the
audience the feels.
The class is cooking up something
big.
Adventure may mean doing
something epic.
Substitute the single-word verb for
the two-word verb in the following
sentences.

1. Senate set up the Meralco

committee.
2. Mothers cut down spending on
rice.
3. Oil price has gone up.
4. Students come up with a solution.
5. Students looked into the problem.
6. The dollar rate went up and
down.
7. Students brought up the uniform
issue.
8. The school gets rid of tuition
hike.
9. Parents turned down the
proposal.
10. The proposal turned out a positive
result.
11. Major oil players put off oil price
hike.
12. Employees did not put up with
the company’s expectations.
13. Parents could not put away
money for their children’s
education.
14. The chemical gives off a foul odor.
15. The class carried out a research on
the frequency of using SMS.
OBJECTIVITY
Academic writing requires special
knowledge and use of more complex
language and objectivity. This
means that the writing must be
impersonal and maintains a certain
level of social distance.
Objective can be achieved by:

Avoiding the use of personal

pronouns such as you, I, and we.
Poor example: You need to conduct
the experiment.
Improved example: The researchers
need to conduct the experiment.
Avoiding rhetorical questions as it
marks “closeness” with the reader,
and constantly seeks his/her
attention.
Poor example: How can these
problems be solved?
Improved example: Certain measures
must be discovered to solve problems.
Avoiding emotive language that
shows biases and lessens objectivity.
Poor example: The investigators were
very shocked to see the outcome of
the tests.
Improved example: The investigators
did not expect the results.
TASK 2 – Improve the text by
rewriting it into a more objective,
impersonal version.
I believe that incidence of drug overdose
has indeed become prevalent nowadays.
When people are faced with difficult
problems, I think that they can no longer
bear the problem and that is why they get
into drugs. That’s why if you are a
psychologist, you should treat your
patients in a way that helps them to
understand their problems and ways to
deal with them. Yeah I know it can be
very difficult but hey, that’s what you
specialized in, right?
EXPLICITNESS
Academic writing demands the use
of signposts that allow readers to
trace the relationship in the parts
of the study.
EXPLICITNESS
CHANGING LINE OF ARGUMENT
However
It is 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.
EXPLICITNESS
MAKING IDEAS
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 overcharges must be returned to
the end users whose electric consumption for
the April – May period below 100kw/hr.
EXPLICITNESS
MAKING IDEAS
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
to the City Hall to claim the PHP 500.00
cash incentive.
EXPLICITNESS
TWO IDEAS ARE THE SAME
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 charges imposed on them by
MERALCO.
EXPLICITNESS
EXTRA INFORMATION
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
EXPLICITNESS
GIVING EXAMPLES
For Example…
The MERALCO issue 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 built from proven
theories and concepts. Therefore,
caution is needed to avoid sweeping
generalizations. Consider the
following example:
CAUTION
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.
CAUTION
Improved Version:

Some government officials may be

corrupt.

Corruption is commonly linked to

some key government officials.
CAUTION
Improved Version:

A number of government officials

tend to be linked with cases of
corruption.
CAUTION
In academic writing, caution needs to
be observed in the following parts of
your paper:
1. When a hypothesis needs to be
tested
2. Drawing conclusions or
predictions from your findings
that may generalize certain
matters or may not be conclusive
CAUTION
In academic writing, caution needs to
be observed in the following parts of
your paper:

3. Referencing others’ work to build

on your own paper.
CAUTION
Words that you may use in observing
caution in writing.
Tends, suggests, appear to be,
think, believe, doubt, indicate.
Will, must, would, may, can, might,
could
Often, sometimes, usually
EXERCISE

Examine the following expressions

and think of ways to reduce the
impact od the utterances
EXERCISE

He has halitosis

You need to eat this to be healthy.

The different steps taken led to their

failure.
STRUCTURE
Aside from language, sentences
need to be constructed in such a
way that they show a level of
complexity that reflects the
sophistication of an academic
writer.
STRUCTURE
In combining ideas effectively, you
will need to avoid redundancy and
at the same time, make sure that
ideas are packed effectively.
STRUCTURE
The earthquake caused loss of life.

The earthquake caused massive

property damage.

The earthquake changed the

landscape of the village.
STRUCTURE

The earthquake was a disaster that

caused loss of life, property damage,
and permanent changes in the
landscape.
STRUCTURE

Nominalization

In nominalization, the verbs are

made central as they denote action.
Transforming verbs into nouns helps
readers focus on the action and not
on the doer of the action.
STRUCTURE

Nominalization

The company created software to

manage the transactions successfully.

The creation of software to manage

transactions was a success.
STRUCTURE

Nominalization
The mall distributed several free
items to consumers in the hope to
boost sales.

Distribution of free items for

consumers was done in the hope to
boost sales.
STRUCTURE

Nominalization

The president announce a three-day

holiday this September.

The president’s announcement of a

three-day holiday for September was
released.
STRUCTURE
Passive Construction
In passive construction, the results of
actions are highlighted. In academic
writing, since the writer of the paper
is presumed to have done the
collection and analysis of data, it is
understood that all results of the
action are a product of the writer’s
work.
STRUCTURE

Passive Construction

The researcher conducted

experiments to validate the
hypothesis.

Experiments were conducted to

validate the hypothesis.
STRUCTURE

Passive Construction

An engineer built a saltwater lamp to

help communities with no electricity.

A saltwater lamp was built to help

communities with no electricity.
STRUCTURE
Passive Construction
Several scientists conducted
experiment to examine the effects of
algae on biodiversity.

An experiment was conducted to

examine the effects of algae on
biodiversity.
TASK – Combine the sentences to
make their structure complex and
better fit for the academic writing.
The government’s deal with the public
transport company was not successful.

The government’s deal with the public

transport company will cause delays in
projects.

The government’s deal with the public

transport company will result in
unsatisfied citizens.
TASK – Restructure the sentence by
using nominalization
The project was implemented to
make sure that services are not
delayed.

The investigators established a time

to determine the chain of events
relating to crime.
The committee imposed a seven-day
deadline for the members to submit
their requirements.

The artists created a beautiful mural

to pay tribute to the survivors of the
disaster.
A number of students reported
several cases of theft within the area.
TASK – Restructure the sentence by
using passivation
The children gave several inputs to
improve the operations of the facility.

Nurses conducted workshops for

those in far-flung areas on health and
sanitation.
The company acquired a number of
contractors to render service to its
consumers.

Marketers need to make a quota

every month to maintain sustainable
growth
Guitar players constantly practice to
ensure fault-free performance.