Hello Love Englishers! Welcome back! Now, if you didn't already know we don't just teach
normal English language. No! Yes, we have other talents!
We are also academic English teachers, which means we help students pass their
IELTS CAE FCE but actually mainly these days, we focus on preparing students to
go to University. So, that really is as academic as it gets...going to university!
and actually to be hones,t when it comes to university English, compared to IELTS,
I actually think it's a stage up. It is a stage up, definitely. So, today if you are a
student who is studying at a university and you have to write your assignments
in English or maybe you're actually at an English University or an American
University but English is not your first language and you're like 'oh' having lots
of problems with writing in English and the academic style, this lesson is for
you! It really is! And to be honest, I think not just people that are learning
English as a second language for everybody. You need to know this to
write academic essays in English! That's right, this is our guide to academic style!
right guys number one something you must include in academic writing linking
words now what are linking words examples so however although in spite of
despite all of those lovely connecting sometimes phrases all words which make
your writing through over they really do help and the important thing is it's not
basic like and and but these are really basic and you want to avoid them and you
want to make sure that you use a variety of linking words yeah so if you've used
however in the previous sentence use on the other hand although in the next
sentence yes it's true also guys they help to organize your right to actually
help the reader to understand the flow because we have some linking words which
I have to say more and we have others which is to say something different I'm
gonna say something negative or the opposite we call those contrast linking
words and we have others don't you later we've got linking words for reason so
why something happened why something happens and the result as well so we've
got therefore as basically instead of saying so because we have consequently
subsequently all of those really help the reader to be able to follow what
you're saying your train of thought so these linking words adds to the style
the tone and register of your essay it needs to sound for all there is nothing
more for more than an academic essay yeah
absolutely guys so add them in to I say to my students if you're not using at
least five per paragraph this yablon actually yes so really start to learn
them and actually we've got some great links to linking word lists and things
like that we'll put in the description box number two I'm afraid that at this
level you can't write sentences like the cat sat on the mat anymore you need to
use sentences with two clauses so D or or more even and these are called
complex sentences now a complex sentence is several clauses linked together
saying different things or adding extra information
now if you use a complex sentence immediately your academic style and the
academic standard goes up in IELTS using complex sentences is very important any
IELTS writing marker with C a complex sentence and even if it's not totally
correct they will be impressed that you tried that structure so Laila what is a
complex sentence what are the kind of things you can use
well the main ones of course are relative clauses we've got basic
relative clauses so when you have which and where and who who so for example
video of the country where they eat lots of chili good perfect thing I'm saying
okay we do that exactly so relative clauses but there's a lots more besides
you can have participle clauses the list is endless conditional sentence yes I
always say isn't an add a conditional sentence especially in conclusions where
you are hypothesizing the result of something or the inaction of something
could they work really well in conclusions they really do if you can
use the second conditional or a third conditional in your IELTS huh your
examiner is going to be impressed so complex sentences guys try to have
several clauses now this can't be a little bit difficult - again we're going
to give you some examples with some links in the description box the other
thing I just want to add is don't be scared of making mistakes you will
actually score higher for attempting these complex sentences and making a few
mistakes yeah then sticking with the present
simple yeah definitely present simple come on say well you seem a bit tired
today I'm a little bit tired yeah quite sure why okay it might be because I
stayed up late last night working could be the reason could be yeah so this is
tentative language or hedging language or cautious language there's lots of
different ways to describe it but it basically means you're being careful why
do we need to be careful right well just before I was saying oh it could be tired
because I stayed up late that could be the reason why I'm tired now here this
was just an example but if you make too strong statements in academic writing
you have to be very careful because can you prove it who are you do
you have a PhD so students will often do things like write very strong sentences
like smoking is bad for you it is bad for you and lots of people know that
however in academic writing we have to prove things we have to argue our case
so we would have to say something like many people have argued that smoking is
a bad habit or is considered to be a bad habit or could be considered to be a bad
habit so we make it more gentle it also means that you're anticipating a
counter-argument so you're acknowledging that your opinion is not the only one
otherwise you do sound well really arrogant yes that's very good point
actually Laila yeah so Laila tell us some more expressions we can used in
tentative like well the speculative speculative line goals the other one is
yeah yeah yeah oh yeah so I think the easiest probably using modal verbs so it
could be it might be I maybe these work really well we've also got more advanced
ones like tend to so used to be seems to be so women tend to enjoy shopping yeah
uh women do you know Marie Claire for some women hate shopping yeah labor
hates it but the point is you are acknowledging that you cannot generalize
you cannot say all people are like this absolutely yes so tentative language
hedging language against some links in the description books number four guys
you need to use verbs of reference so this is when we were firing often to the
work of another writer or the argument of someone else so for example we could
say imagine we're arguing about let's see
chocolate being bad for you and we could say that Walters Lena Walters has
suggested that chocolate in small doses is in fact maybe not as bad for you as
some people think mm-hmm so that we were using heading
language but also I was referring to her opinion it's a verb of reference to
refer to somebody else's opinion this is really important when you are using
academic references so you probably wouldn't reference me but it's a good
example but it's a great way to use it when we are
talking about pieces of work so talking about research that's been done yeah the
other thing I think that's really important if we don't necessarily have a
researcher that we want to refer to it's a way of avoiding I think or the people
here so many have argued many people have argued instead of saying they
argued or they said yeah it doesn't sound academic and there's lots of these
guys that is for example suggested claim now sorry two of us pointed out yeah
claimed yeah our lemon straighter does a bit stronger good one asserted yes
asserted great yeah avoid shown it's a bit too simple lots
of students say oh this has shown that and it is okay in IELTS but if you're
going to the next level I would say yes don't don't you shake yeah tell and said
of noetic yeah right now we mentioned before that using I we these personal
pronouns please don't do it I also do say that you can say in my opinion I'm
of the opinion however at university level we do really avoid this yeah and
CAE as well exactly and what we often use our passive forms to avoid this so
instead of saying she said we could say it has been said yes exactly
this makes it neutral actually we know that it's your opinion yeah the reader
understands that it's your opinion but it doesn't sound personal that way it
doesn't sound like oh I think that oh in my opinion this sounds as Leila was
saying before arrogant and also who are you you know you are just a student
trying to argue a point so you have to be very careful about saying too much of
your own opinion you have to argue it properly
so of course as sabra mentioned earlier having more complex sentences well this
takes that booklet - oh absolutely you're using passive structures
immediately when I'm marking a paper when IELTS examiner is marking your
paper they see a passive structure brilliant you are going to score much
higher on your language range even if you make one or two minor errors
ting the passives is a huge thing it's great yes it could be argued that it
could be suggested that here are two example sentences of the passive and
also reference referring let us know if you would like more lessons on the
passive structure how confident are you with these tenses it quite complex and
they do take a bit of practice that's right what happened there active or
passive I have been a new layer with hit my favorite what is that
in the active comment below guys let's test your grammar right guys we're
giving you lots of things you need to do but these are some things you must try
and avoid yeah okay so these are the Jencks guys right guys number one is my
personal hate I've always said to my students don't do this because it's
really annoying for teachers actually and this is using the big time phrases
say for example nowadays I can't stand it when I see an essay that starts with
nowadays it is just used overused by students and what does nowadays even
mean you know in academic writing we must be specific about things what
academics you really need to say when you're talking about so do you mean in
the last decade do you mean in the last couple of years things like in recent
times are not even acceptable you know you really need to be much more specific
absolutely and I think you also need to distinguish between an exam essay and a
essay that you research and write because an exam is say you can have in
the last decade yeah at but if it's a research paper you need specific dates
guy as you do you need to say from 2005 this has been happening yeah exactly so
don't use big time phrases be specific as much as you can see Layla hmm do you
think all men love football cuz my boyfriend loves football
I mean he's crazy about football what see my boyfriend likes basketball ah so
to say all men love football I think it's the same saintil women love
shopping that's true actually yes we love shopping but there's some girls out
there that don't some ladies a hunt on you
this brings us to our second point generalizations we talked about hedging
language and that's a great way to avoid generalizations don't assume that what
you think is true is what everybody else thinks to be true you could say instead
many men like football or a significant number of women may enjoy shopping yes
but again seeming too arrogant and thinking that you know what everybody
likes what everybody does is just not how we write or tribe is more specific
than that famous like in particular countries in particular regions it could
be argued that many women like this or many men play football I know in some
parts of the world you know football isn't the most popular sports if you
were writing about sports you would have to be more specific for example so yes
avoiding generalizations and assumptions we call them they really just open the
essay up to the examiner being like well how do you know this they open you up
for criticism right guys if there is one way to lose points in an academic essay
it is to say III my my my she or something like that personal pronouns
are a big no-no an academic essay should be neutral in its style as we've said it
should seem formal it should seem quite cold in the style yeah so even if it's
your opinion as we've said before you have to kind of seem like it's something
you're arguing based on your research so using I is a big no-no also using
adverbs like really and very these are very informal and very very informal
they really are yeah so for example I've seen some students writing things like
oh it's really popular you know that's just not the way to write in an academic
style you would say if you're talking about popularity you could say something
like chocolate is a sweet treat that is enjoyed by many girls so many a girls
not all girls yes instead of saying it's really popular so really very those kind
of adverbs can you think of any more Layla
so adverbs of opinion as well amazingly surprisingly these are really again
similar to I it's saying what you think but it's not necessarily what others
think you can use significant that's a great one yeah to say that there's a lot
number but you don't want to say that it's brilliant when you say not yet far
too kind of strong an adverb yeah right now we've been teaching you when you
speak English to use contractions I've been to the shops she's gone out I may
I'll go here I'll go okay forget that you do not use contractions at all in
academic English the first thing I see is a contraction and I get a big red pen
and make a big circle around it she really does I do sometimes with a sad
face so contractions are for spoken English academic new no that's before my
actually formal work emails you avoid contracts
solutely and letters of course yeah so it's a good kind of thing to understand
that contractions are something for spoken whereas generally they're not
used in the written form if it's any kind of formal writing so yeah it's a
great language English isn't it big events a year but don't do that there
sorry guys point number five is a quick one and it is don't use abbreviations ET
c asp p LOL tell me i know you don't do that OMG I have actually seen lol in an
essay no I really have what did you do I hope you hit them not going to do that
however teachers not going to name the student or the country but yes I did see
lol which is very bad so no call these abbreviations no abbreviated forms not
even i.e IE is used to talk about examples no soon none of those they are
not academic form on the same note slang okay lots of you love slang in English
but absolutely not slang like kids has even loads of loads of knackered yeah
they were significant I reckon I've seen a mercy before then it's very easy notes
is chatty English it's not for writing and that's why the difficulty comes it's
getting that correct tone and register for you even if you speak brilliantly in
English if you haven't learned the formal style
you're gonna lose marks in your essay yeah okay last point guys is don't use
phrasal verbs again this is something we love to teach you a phrasal verbs
phrasal verb understand them love them learn them we're always saying this to
you aren't we well in essays we don't like them
so yes it's a great old language isn't it so can I give some example yeah so an
example like find out we wouldn't say find out we would say discover yeah also
yes get well that's a colloquial yeah this
an area that's similar I'm kind of it's a very relaxed verb really isn't it yeah
it has too many meanings so you know I've got a degree I gain change yeah
quiet so we would we would change their base think of another Fraserburgh what's
another one which they would change um work out yes black out down worked out
the formula she understood she calculated yes although very good well I
on fire um I think it's really important to recognize that with every face verb
there is an academic equivalent and the same with a lot of the more colloquial
verbs yeah look in the description below we will put a link to the academic word
lists actually guys there are many words that are high frequency in academic
English so check them out and learn them and there's some exercises there as well
brilliant okay guys well I think that's it from us so your academic guide to
writing your essays and also to help you with IELTS FC and CAE we really hope you
found this useful remember knows no slang no informal and
use hedging language all of that great stuff make sure to let us know in the
comments box below are you studying for any exams in English because we could
probably help you out yeah let us know guys what lessons you would like us to
make if you've enjoyed this lesson of course we could do more on hedging
language on passive structures linking words there's so much but we thought we
would leave it to you to decide yeah even on IELTS guys we've both been IELTS
teachers so let us know don't forget guys you can subscribe to our channel so
you don't miss a lesson and we'll see you next time we've got other lessons on
grammar so we're going to leave you with a playlist for grammar we'll see you
guys bye I know
yeah