ASPECTS OF

PROFESSIONAL AND
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
FOUR IMPORTANT FEATURES OF
LANGUAGE

 Formality
 Objectivity
 Explicitness
 Caution
FORMALITY

 reflects your dignified stance in your writing as a

member of the academic community
 since your audience are fellow members of the
academic community, the language you use requires
precision to make it
WAYS TO ACHIEVE FORMALITY

Choosing expanded modal forms over contracted forms

cannot can’t

do not don’t

is not isn’t
WAYS TO ACHIEVE FORMALITY

Choosing expanded modal forms over contracted forms

WAYS TO ACHIEVE FORMALITY

Choosing one-verb form over two-word verbs

damage mess up

search look up

carry out execute

WAYS TO ACHIEVE FORMALITY

Choosing one-verb form over two-word verbs

WAYS TO ACHIEVE FORMALITY

Choosing expanded terms over their abbreviated

equivalents
as soon as
ASAP
possible
tablespoon tbsp
chief executive
CEO
officer
WAYS TO ACHIEVE FORMALITY

Choosing expanded terms over their abbreviated

equivalents
WAYS TO ACHIEVE FORMALITY

Avoiding colloquial/trite/idiomatic expressions

 Colloquial – words and phrases that are part of our
everyday speech, but that are not part of our formal
language
 Trite – words that are overused, worn out, lacking in
originality
 Idiomatic expression – a type of informal language that
have a meaning different from the meaning of the words in
the expression
WAYS TO ACHIEVE FORMALITY

Avoiding colloquial/trite/idiomatic expressions

IDIOMATIC
COLLOQUIAL TRITE EXPRESSIONS

crib butterflies in stomach once in a blue moon

y‘all better late than never a piece of cake

wanna without further ado break a leg