Formal and Academic style: Writing conventions

At the C1 level, mastering formal and academic style is essential for professional and educational success. This involves specific grammatical choices, vocabulary selection, and a focus on objectivity and precision.

1. Key Principles of Academic Style

• Objectivity: Avoid using first-person pronouns (I, me, my) and emotional language. Use the passive voice or impersonal structures.
  • Informal: I think the results are good.
  • Academic: It is argued that the results are significant.
• Precision: Use specific verbs instead of phrasal verbs or general ones like get, do, make.
  • Informal: Prices went up.
  • Academic: Prices increased significantly.
• Nominalization: Turning verbs into nouns to sound more objective and dense (see our dedicated lesson).
• Hedging: Using cautious language (suggest, might, appear) to avoid over-generalization.

2. Avoiding Informal Features

In formal writing, you should generally avoid:

• Contractions: Write do not instead of don’t.
• Direct Questions: Use indirect questions or statements.
• Phrasal Verbs: Use their single-word equivalents (postpone instead of put off).
• Vague words: Avoid things, stuff, nice, big. Use elements, material, excellent, substantial.

3. Formal Linking Words

Use advanced connectors to structure your logic:

• Addition: Furthermore, Moreover, Additionally.
• Contradiction: Conversely, Nevertheless, On the contrary.
• Result: Consequently, Therefore, Accordingly.

À toi de jouer ! ✍️

Rewrite or choose the more formal/academic version of these sentences.