Grammar of Academic Writing

Impersonal passives and nominal style.

Examples

• It has been argued that...

Key rules

• Features: passive voice, nominalisation, hedging, impersonal it
• Avoid contractions and phrasal verbs
• Use precise verbs: investigate not look into
• Cite sources and use cohesive devices

Common mistakes

• We looked into the problem → The problem was investigated
• It is proved that → The results suggest that