Group 1

English for Academic Purposes A1

Phrasal Verbs in Academic English
Phrasal verbs often have one-word synonyms. These are usually of Latin origin and sound
more formal than their phrasal verb equivalent, but both are appropriate when writing or
talking about academic subjects.

Phrasal Verb Synonym Example

Put forward (an idea/view/ Present In her latest article Kaufmann

opinion/theory/plan puts forward a theory which is
likely to prove controversial.
Carry out (an experiment/ Conduct I intend to carry out a series of
Research) experiments.
Make up Constitute Children under the age of 15
make up nearly half of the
country’s population.
Be made up of Consist of Parliament is made up of two
houses.
Point out Observe Grenne points out that the increase in life
expectancy has led to some economic problems.
Point up Highlight The study points up the weaknesses in the
current school system.
Set out (to do Aim In his article Losanov sets out to prove that…
something)
Set out Describe The document sets out the terms of the treaty.

Go into Discuss In this book Sergeant goes into the causes of

the Civil War in some depth.
Go/look back Revise, review Please go/look back over this term’s notes.
over
Go through Check Go through your calculations carefully.
 Words With Several Meanings
A. Set
Many words in English have more than one meaning. The word set, for example, is one
word with a particularly large number of distinctly different meanings. As our focus is
academic English, some key uses of set are illustrated by these examples.
a) Set the instruments to zero. [get something ready so it can be operated]
b) I would like to set some ground rules for the course. [establish]
c) The decision set a number of changes in motion. [caused to be in a stated condition]
d) We must set a time for our next meeting. [arrange]
e) Concrete sets as it cools. [becomes solid]
f) The students entered the room and immediately set to work. [started work]
g) The condition is associated with a particular set of symptoms. [group]
h) We have a number of set books to study in our literature class. [that must be studied]
c. Words with several different academic meanings
Many academic words have specific meaning according to their discipline. Channel, for
example, has specific meanings in electronics, linguistics, biology, physics and
geography.
Other words, e.g. issue and point have several generally important academic meanings.
- The writer takes issue with Kwame’s interpretation. [raises arguments against]
- In your essay you should address a number of key issues. [topics]
- Have you seen the latest issue of the Malaysian Medical Journal? [edition]
- Jackson raises some interesting points in his article. [opinions, ideas, information]
- The writer takes a long time to get to the point. [most significant part]
 Metaphors and Idioms

A metaphor is a way of using language which describes something by indirectly

comparing it to something else with similar characteristics. For example, you might say
an academic ‘attacks’ or ‘demolishes’ someone’s theory or argument, just as an army can
attack an enemy or workers can demolish a building. If a metaphor is used so often that
the original force of the comparison is lost then it may be called an idiom. For example,
people often use the idiom ‘ I’m snowed under with work at the moment’. Originally this
was a metaphor based on the idea of a great deal of work having the characteristics of
‘snow’ (deep, overwhelming everything else and making movement difficult).
Fixed Expressions