APPENDIX IV: TYPICAL CONSTRUCTIONS IN ACADEMIC WRITING

APPENDIX IV

TYPICAL CONSTRUCTIONS IN ACADEMIC WRITING

Impersonal constructions accounting for backgrounds:

It is   …common knowledge (experience)

        … well known/ commonplace that…  

        … a matter of common observation…

        … generally agreed/ accepted that…

        ...  claimed /being claimed

It is taken for granted that… 

It is not entirely clear…

It is encouraging that…

It is hoped that…

It turns out/ proves to be …

It would be of great interest to …

 

Focusing:

This ...implies/ proves/ shows/ yields/

 ...is meant to support our theory

   ...will allow me to propose…

 ...offers a way of

 ...is another way of approaching …

 

Commenting and demonstrating intentions:

...it is important to view…

…it is particularly necessary to underline…

…it seems impossible …                      

…it will be shown that…

…it is easy/ (not) hard/ relatively simple to demonstrate/show/   prove/   verify that…                                    

…it must be recognized that…                                                                                                                        

…to make a distinction between …one should…

…it may be difficult to understand …

…it can be/ is (not) easily shown/ proved…

…on further examination it was discovered that …

…to grasp this point  we must…

…in order to achieve/ clarify...it is necessary to …

…to argue this,    I’d like to…              

... it is not sufficient to define …

 

Evaluating and prospecting:

It is appropriate/ convenient/ desirable/ essential...

       ...  to start with…

       … to present/ to outline /to show…

It is ...fair/ fruitful/ helpful/ important/ instructive/ interesting/ logical to…

It is ...natural/ proper/ reasonable/ sensible to mention that…

It is ...safe/ suitable/ useful/ wise to introduce some terminology/definitions.

It is ...informative to turn to…

           …wise to begin with …

           ... natural to recognize (conclude) that …

It seems …

       ...fair to say

       ...important to emphasize that…

       ...logical to ask whether …

It would be

       ...reasonable to assume that…

       ...safe to predict that …

It might be helpful to examine …

It is essential   to make clear/ to see that …

It is (not) good (enough) to appeal to …

It is (none the less) clear that …

It became/ is (not) clear/ obvious that…

It is/ seems (quite) logical (to assume) ... that…

It is difficult/ possible to imagine that…

It is evident/ self-evident (for us)/ (un)likely/ (highly) probable that…

 

Choosing and stating:

-        It appears (seems/ may be/ is) fair/ reasonable to say that …

-        It is (would be) accurate to say that…

-        It goes without saying that…

-        It is (not even a half) truth to say that…

-        It's often easier to do … than…

-        In doing ...it is better to use…

-        Instead of working in terms of …it is more convenient to introduce…

-        It might be less confusing to use the theory…

-        In order to measure ...it is crucial to calculate…  

-        In conclusion, it may be said that …

 

Arguing by negation

-        It is beyond the scope of this paper                           

-        It is not my purpose/ the purpose of this article                                

-        It is doubtful/ seems unlikely that this theory …

-        It is in principle impossible

-        It would not be productive                 

-        It is thus not surprising

-        It needs no argument that…

-        It is misleading/ nonsensical/ pointless/ not correct/ an error to focus only on…

-        It would not be adequate to regard/ consider…

-        It cannot/ can hardly be denied that..

Arguing by inversion:

-        It is here where these effects are most important.

-        It is in this area of inquiry that much of the terminology originates.

-        It is one of the basic principles of …

-        It is exactly the case.

-        It is precisely this that distinguishes…

-        It is our aim to…

 

Parenthesis :

a)    connecting :

-        In view of…

-        From this point of view

-        In a broad sense

-        In this connection

-        In particular

-        In detail

-        In this framework…

-        In our current conception…

-        In response to this....

-        In practice, …                               

-        With regard to, …

-        In discussing/ surveying …           

-        From this perspective, let us re-examine…

-        Methodologically/ Technically,   ...this seems to be…

-        In any area of science, there will be issues …

b)  explaining:

-     Given the notion/ limitation/ difficulty of…we can explain…

-     Given the fact that…the conclusion is evident

-     Given that, we can extend the interpretation оf

-     With regard to…a certain clarification is necessary.

-     Following … we  will refer to…as …

-     By exploring this paradigm,               

-     Admittedly,  this problem is not new.

-     Presumably/ That is to say,…                                                             

-     Under certain/ experimental circumstances…

-     In these (other) cases…

-     According to the analysis given  here…

-     To this end,…

c) comparing and inferring:

-     Accordingly/ alternatively/ equally/ equivalently/ similarly

-     Likewise/ otherwise/ conversely/ consequently,                      

-     By analogy/ contrast

-     Because of this/ for this reason/ for the present,                     

-     As compared with / in comparison with / as follows from …

-     As a result (consequence)

-     In this respect…

-     As always…

-     But / however / at best / at the same time / nevertheless/ still,    

-     Therefore / hence / so / then / thus / on the contrary,

-     On the one hand/ on the other hand…

-     From the other side,...

-     In reality/ In the latter (that/ this) case,        

d) generalizing:

-     Generally / Typically / Essentially / Naturally / Most important / In general,

-     On a more general level/ In a more general context,                

-     Typically, in other words / As a general rule/ First of all,

-     In effect / In essence / In a word / In brief / To simplify,                    

-     In principle / Seen as a whole

-     In any case,                                                    

-     To summarize the ideas…

e) succession:

-     To begin with/ Next/ Again/ To repeat,…                                   

-     First(ly)/ Second(ly)/ Third(ly),…

-     Ultimately/ In closing/ Finally,…                          .

-     In short/ In summary /To summarize,…

-     At this point,…                                             

-     Continuing in the same way,…                    

-     Before looking at this matter, however,  … 

-     Before we go into these problems,..            

-     As for …/ As far as … is concerned…

-     Regarding …/ Apart from …/ Leaving aside…/ As matters stand,…                             

-     To my very limited knowledge,…

-     As far as we are aware,…                                           

-     In considering …

-     In looking ahead and planning the work…

f) additions and appositions:

-     What’s more/Further/ Furthermore/ Moreover/ Besides/ Also/ In addition to…

-     Above all/ After all/ Indeed/ Actually/ Virtually/ Rather

-     In these terms/ In other words,

-     In fact/ That is/ Namely/ More correctly,      

-     In abbreviated form,……

-     Roughly/ strictly speaking, ...

-     In a way,…

-     This means…

j) attitudes:

-     Clearly/ Evidently/ Interestingly (enough)/ Fortunately/ Regrettably,

-     To be sure/ Little wonder/ Surprisingly,           

-     Obviously/ Surely/ Understandably,

-     In our opinion,      

-     Unfortunately,

Last modified: Wednesday, 8 April 2020, 3:34 PM