By using adverbs that express certainty and probability.

Definitely,

Undoubtedly,

Probably,

Possibly,

Presumably,

5. By using verb phrases that distance the writer from the statements or conclusions he/she makes.

Social scientists often serve

contradictory political

and scientific values.

   

a strong possibility

a definite possibility

a slight possibility

  that dinosaurs died out due to sudden climatic changes.       dinosaurs died out due to sudden climatic changes.        

It seems

It appears

It would seem/appear

  that social scientists often serve contradictory political and scientific values.   Social scientists seem to often serve contradictory political and scientific values. Social scientists appear to often serve contradictory political and scientific values. Social scientists tend to often serve contradictory political and scientific values. 6. By using quantity words. A majority of social scientists often serve contradictory political and scientific values. A large number of social scientists often serve contradictory political and scientific values. Social scientists of many countries often serve contradictory political and scientific values. Some social scientists often serve contradictory political and scientific values. A few social scientists often serve contradictory political and scientific values.   7. By using statements of shared knowledge, assumptions, and beliefs.

It is generally agreed

It is widely accepted

It is now generally recognized

  that dinosaurs died out due to sudden climatic changes.

As far as formal vocabulary is concerned in “English Lexicology” [1] we can find information about two main groups formal words fall into: words associated with professional communication and a less exclusive group of so-called learned words.

As far as learned words are concerned they are ‘mainly associated with the printed page. It is in this vocabulary stratum that poetry and fiction find their main resources’ [1, p.27].

The term "learned" includes several heterogeneous subdivisions of words. We find here numerous words that are used in scientific prose and can be identified by their dry, matter-of-fact flavour (e. g. comprise, compile, experimental, heterogeneous, homogeneous, conclusive, divergent, etc.) [1, p. 27].

Also so-called "officialese" [əˌfɪʃ(ə)'liːz] (cf. with the R. канцеляризмы) belongs to this group. These are the words of the official, bureaucratic language, e.g. assist (for help), endeavour (for try), proceed (for go), approximately (for about), sufficient (for enough), attired (for dressed), inquire (for ask).

e.g. "You are authorized to acquire the work in question by purchase through the ordinary trade channels." Which, translated into plain English, would simply mean: "We advise you to buy the book in a shop."

(Dictionary ‘Usage and Abusage’ by E. Partridge)

Another subdivision of learned words is represented by the words found in descriptive passages of fiction and called "literary". They are mostly polysyllabic words drawn from the Romance languages and fully adapted to the English phonetic system. ‘They also seem to retain an aloofness associated with the lofty contexts in which they have been used for centuries. Their very sound seems to create complex and solemn associations’ [1, p. 28].

e.g.: solitude, sentiment, fascination, fastidiousness, facetiousness, delusion, meditation, felicity, elusive, cordial, illusionary.

There is one further subdivision of learned words: modes of poetic diction. Poetic words are close to the previous group but have a further characteristic — ‘a lofty, high-flown, sometimes archaic [ɑː'keɪɪk], colouring’:

"Alas! they had been friends in youth;

But whispering tongues can poison truth

And constancy lives in realms above;

And life is thorny; and youth is vain;

And to be wroth with one we love,

Doth work like madness in the brain..."

(Coleridge)

Learned words are not only used by educated English-speaking individuals in their formal letters or professional communication but also in their everyday speech. But sometimes ‘such uses strike a definitely incongruous [ɪn'kɔŋgruəs] note as in the following extract:

"You should find no difficulty in obtaining a secretarial post in the city." Carel said "obtaining a post" and not "getting a job". It was part of a bureaucratic manner which, Muriel noticed, he kept reserved for her."

(From The Time of the Angels by I. Murdoch)

More than that, excessive use of learned words in everyday speech with pretensions of "refinement" and "elegance" may have an opposite effect. ‘Writers use this phenomenon for stylistic purposes. When a character in a book or in a play uses too many learned words, the obvious inappropriateness of his speech in an informal situation produces a comic effect’ [1, p. 29].

The role leaned words play in language-learning shouldn’t be underestimated: without knowing some learned words, it is impossible to read fiction and scientific articles or to listen to lectures delivered in the foreign language.

Beside learned words there is a group of words which ‘belong to special scientific, professional or trade terminological systems and are not used or even understood by people outside the particular speciality’ [1, p. 33]. Every field of modern human activity has its specialised vocabulary. There is a special medical vocabulary, special terminologies for psychology, botany, music, linguistics and others.

Term, as traditionally understood, is a word or a word-group which is specifically employed by a particular branch of science, technology, trade or the arts to convey a concept peculiar to this particular activity [1, p. 34].

So, bilingual, interdental, labialization, palatalization, glottal stop, descending scale are terms of theoretical phonetics.

The following table sums up the description of the stylistic strata of English vocabulary:

Stylistically-neutral words	Stylistically-marked words
Informal	Formal
Basic vocabulary	I. Colloquial words	I. Learned words
	A. literary,	A. literary,
	B. familiar,	B. words of scientific prose,
	C. low.	C. officialese,
	II. Slang words.	D. modes of poetic diction.
	III. Dialect words.	II. Archaic and obsolete words.
		III. Professional
		terminology.

Talking briefly about academic vocabulary we should single out several distinguishing features:

1. English academic style makes use of formal verbs, often of Latin origin (observe, omit, reduce, consider, complete, etc.).

2. Collocations are relatively stable word-combinations that occur regularly. Their knowledge and appropriate use is very important for successful academic writing in English.

3. Logical connectors (transitional expressions) are linking words and phrases which establish the logical relationship between ideas within a sentence or between sentences. They also improve the flow of writing, that is a smooth movement from one idea or piece of information in a text to the next (accordingly, as far as, in addition, for instance, otherwise, etc.).

4. Like other European languages, academic English makes use of Latin abbreviations and expressions (a priori, in vitro, in vivo, post factum, cf., e.g., etc.).

References

1. Антрушина Г. Б., Афанасьева О. В., Морозова Н. Н. Лексикология английского

языка: Учеб. пособие для студентов. — М.: Дрофа, 1999. — 288 с.

1. Yakhontova T.V. English Academic Writing for Students and Researchers. – L’viv:

PAIS, 2003. – 220 p.

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