Distinctive linguistic features of the major functional styles of English. The style of official documents.
Morphological features.
- Adherence to the norm, sometimes outdated or even archaic, e.g. in legal documents.
Syntactical features.
- Use of long complex sentences with several types of coordination and subordination (up to 70% of the text).
- Use of passive and participial constructions, numerous connectives.
- Use of objects, attributes and all sorts of modifiers in the identifying and explanatory function.
- Extensive use of detached constructions and parenthesis.
- Use of participle I and participle II as openers in the initial expository statement.
- A general syntactical mode of combining several pronouncement into one sentence.
- Information texts are based on standard normative syntax reasonably simplified.
Lexical features
- Prevalence of stylistically neutral and bookish vocabulary.
- Use of terminology, e. g. legal: acquittal, testimony, aggravated larceny commercial: advance payment, insurance, wholesale, etc.
- Use of proper names (names of enterprises, companies, etc.) and titles.
- Abstraction of persons, e.g. use of party instead of the name.
- Officialese vocabulary: cliches, opening and conclusive phrases.
- Conventional and archaic forms and words: kinsman, hereof, thereby, ilk.
- Foreign words, especially Latin and French: status quo, force majeure, persona non grata.
- Abbreviations, contractions, conventional symbols: M. P. (member Parliament), Ltd (limited), $, etc.
- Use of words in their primary denotative meaning.
- Absence of tropes, no evaluative and emotive coloring of vocabulary. Seldom use of substitute words: one, that.
Compositional features
- Special compositional design: coded graphical layout, clear-cut subdivision of texts into units of information; logical arrangement of these units, order-of-priority organization of content and information.
- Conventional composition of treaties, agreements, protocols, etc.: division into two parts, a preamble and a main part.
- Use of stereotyped, official phraseology.
- Accurate use of punctuation.
- Generally objective, concrete, unemotional and impersonal style of narration.
Distinctive linguistic features of the major functional styles of English. Scientific (academic) Style.
Morphological features
- Terminological word building and word-derivation: neologism formation by affixation and conversion.
- Restricted use of finite verb forms. Use of 'the author's we' instead of I.
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- Frequent use of impersonal constructions.
Syntactical features
- Complete and standard syntactical mode of expression.
- Syntactical precision to ensure the logical sequence of thought and, argumentation.
- Direct word order.
- Use of lengthy sentences with subordinate clauses.
- Extensive use of participial, gerundial and infinitive complexes.
- Extensive use of adverbial and prepositional phrases.
- Frequent use of parenthesis introduced by a dash.
- Abundance of attributive groups with a descriptive function.
- Preferential use of prepositional attributive groups instead of the descriptive of phrase. Avoidance of ellipsis, even usually omitted conjunctions like 'that' and 'which'.
- Prevalence of nominal constructions over the verbal ones to avoid time reference for the sake of generalization.
- Frequent use of passive and non-finite verb forms to achieve objectivity and impersonality.
- Use of impersonal forms and sentences such as mention should made, it can be inferred, assuming that, etc.
Lexical features
- Extensive use of bookish words e. g. presume, infer, preconception, cognitive.
- Abundance of scientific terminology and phraseology.
- Use of words in their primary dictionary meaning, restricted use of connotative contextual meanings.
- Use of numerous neologisms.
- Abundance of proper names.
- Restricted use of emotive colouring, interjections, expressive phraseology, phrasal verbs, colloquial vocabulary.
- Seldom use of tropes, such as metaphor, hyperbole, simile, etc.
Compositional features
- Types of texts compositionally depend on the scientific genre: monograph, article, presentation, thesis, dissertation, etc.
- In scientific proper and technical texts e. g. mathematics: highly formalized text with the prevalence of formulae, tables, diagrams supplied with concise commentary phrases.
- In humanitarian texts (history, philosophy): descriptive narration, supplied with argumentation and interpretation.
- Logical and consistent narration, sequential presentation of material and facts.
Theoretical grammar
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