Use 'There' as a subject; e.g. 'There is a serious risk of...'
Use 'It' as a subject; e.g. 'It is very difficult to...'
Use 'One' as a subject; e.g. 'One may ask whether...' ('One' is a formal
version of 'You' [plural] in general)
Use the passive voice; e.g. 'Many things can be done in order to...'
To practise this, try these 2 matching activities:
Activity 1, and
Activity 2 on common errors in
formality.
Avoiding the use of personal pronouns such as you
and we to address the reader
Avoiding the use of rhetorical questions such as Did
you know that spoken and written language are very different?
Avoiding the use of contractions such as wont,
didnt, well
Avoiding the overuse and misuse of certain logical
connectors, especially besides, furthermore and moreover.
Besides is too informal, and both furthermore and moreover
mean that the following information is more important than the information
before, which is usually bad organisation. Use In addition or Also
instead
Ensuring that grammar is
accurate, that ideas link together smoothly and that a full range of
grammatical structures is employed, such as
relative clauses
Correct the following sentences to make them more academic. You can check
the answer after each question, or, after you finish them, you can click the
'Check All Answers' button to see the answers and feedback.