Academic word families
Master academic word families and their grammar: analyse/analysis/analytical, significant/significance, theory/theoretical/theorise, and prepositions that go with them.
In this lesson you will
- Build complete academic word families
- Use dependent prepositions with academic words
- Avoid common word-form errors
Learn
Knowing one form isn’t enough at C1 — you need the whole family: analyse (v), analysis/analyst (n), analytical (adj), analytically (adv); theory, theorist, theoretical, theorise; hypothesis, hypothesise, hypothetical; emphasis, emphasise, emphatic.
Irregular plurals: analysis → analyses, hypothesis → hypotheses, criterion → criteria, phenomenon → phenomena, datum → data (data often takes a plural verb in formal writing).
Dependent prepositions: emphasis on, impact on, contribute to, a correlation between, consistent with, in accordance with, derive from, a rise in, the cause of, reliance on**.
Common errors: emphasise on ✗ (emphasise X or put emphasis on X); discuss about ✗; a criteria ✗ (a criterion); an evidence ✗ (evidence / a piece of evidence).
Examples
- The study emphasises the need for further research.
- There is a strong correlation between diet and health.
- These phenomena are consistent with the theory.
- Several criteria were used to select participants.
Vocabulary
hypothesis
an idea to be tested
phenomenon
an observable event (plural: phenomena)
criterion
a standard for judging (plural: criteria)
correlation
a connection between two things
derive from
come from
Practice
Plural of “hypothesis”:
Speaking
Explain a theory or study you know about using at least six academic words in different forms (e.g. analyse, analysis, analytical).
Writing
Write an academic paragraph (130–160 words) describing a hypothetical study, using at least three irregular plurals and six dependent prepositions correctly.
Lesson quiz
Plural of “phenomenon”:
Review
Key points
- Learn whole word families.
- Irregular plurals: analyses, criteria, phenomena.
- Dependent prepositions.
- Avoid: emphasise on, discuss about.
What you learned
- ✓ I know academic word families.
- ✓ I use prepositions correctly.
- ✓ I avoid common academic errors.