Features of academic writing
Complexity
Written language is relatively more complex than spoken language (Biber, 1988; Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999; Chafe, 1982; Cook, 1997; Halliday,1989).
Written language is grammatically more complex than spoken language. It has more subordinate clauses, more "that/to" complement clauses, more long sequences of prepositional phrases, more attributive adjectives and more passives than spoken language.
Written texts are shorter and have longer, more complex words and phrases. They have more nominalisations, more noun based phrases, and more lexical variation. Written texts are lexically dense compared to spoken language - they have proportionately more lexical words than grammatical words.
The following features are common in academic written texts:
Subordinate clauses/embedding, Complement clauses, Sequences of prepositional phrases, Participles, Passive verbs, Lexical density, Lexical complexity, Nominalisation, Noun-based phrases,Modification of noun-phrases, Attributive adjectives
Subordinate clauses/embedding
There are several factors which help to prolong this period to perhaps three or four times that in the male.
The other way in which the economic aspects of military expenditure were presented was in the form of the public expenditure costs.
The family establishes a variety of bases for refuges which seem to be used at different times of the year.
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Complement clauses
that-clauses:
This conforms conveniently with Maslow's (1970) claim that human motivation is related to a hieracrchy of human needs.
It follows that if the Labour Government is to secure acceptance of its economic package, it has to secure the support of MPs from either the Liberal or the Conservative party.
to-clauses:
Britain's apparent ability to rally Commonwealth support at Chicago seemed to the Americans to be evidence of Britain's continued world power.
of+ing-clauses:
The possibility of increasing dollar receipts was coupled with a belief that Africa could be a strategic centre for British power.
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Sequences of prepositional phrases
Sequences of prepositional phrases are common in academic English.
This article analyses the constitutional aspects behind the formation of the first and second National Governments, examining in particular the role of the king in the formation ofthe two governments.
Participles
Formal written English uses verbs less than spoken English. -ed and -ing participles allow verbs to be used nominally or adjectively.
Similar temptations overcame philosophers concerned with establishing a secure base for individual responsibility
The Egyptians regarded time as a succession of recurring phases.
Doubts as to the proper division of property at death, as well as rights between partners livi
ng together, were resolved by having legal rules prescribing a formula.
It was only to be tolerated in a controlled and formalised context.
A frequentcharacterise change found in proper names is syllable loss.
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Passive verbs
In spoken English we often use a subject such as "people", "somebody", "they", "we", or "you" even when we do not know who the agent is. In formal English, particularly writing, we often prefer to use a passive.
Compare:
They're installing the new computer system next month.
The new computer system is being installed next month. (more formal)
Try these exercises: Exercise 1, Exercise 2, Exercise 3
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Lexical density
Written English generally has a much denser pattern of  words, it is more lexically dense. If we define lexical density as the number of  content words in a clause, then written English has a higher lexical density than spoken English (Halliday, 1996, p. 347).
For example, the written text:
Obviously the government is frightened of union reaction to its move to impose proper behaviour on unions.
is more lexically dense than the spoken version:
Obviously the government is frightened how the unions will react if it tries to make them behave properly.
Lexical complexity
Adding affixes to existing words (the base) to form new words is common in academic English. Prefixes are added to the front of the base (like  dislike), whereas suffixes are added to the end of the base (active  activate). Prefixes usually do not change the class of the base word, but suffixes usually do change the class of the word.
The most common prefixes used to form new verbs in academic English are: re-, dis-, over-, un-, mis-, out-. The most common suffixes are: -ise, -en, -ate, -(i)fy. By far the most common affix in academic English is -ise.

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