Using Phrasal Verbs Correctly in Advanced and Academic Writing.

As verbs consisting of two or three separate parts, often with idiomatic meanings, phrasal verbs can be extremely challenging for non-native speakers. And yet in everyday speech, people use phrasal verbs such as pick up, look down, put out or hold off on a regular basis. But how common are they in academic writing, and how are they used?

Many textbooks and teachers of academic English may warn students against using phrasal verbs at all, and while it is true that academics must be very cautious about using such words in their assignments, these constructions should not be avoided altogether.

Although not nearly as commonly found in academic texts as in speech, phrasal verbs commonly appear in academic writing. Generally, however, the type of phrasal verbs that are used in this context are more formal and lack idiomatic meanings.

One reason that phrasal verbs may be less common in academic contexts is that these constructions can sometimes have meanings that can be difficult to understand – and academic writing is about being as unambiguous as possible. The ten common academic phrasal verbs listed below are almost all transitive and inseparable and are less idiomatic in meaning.

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Phrasal verbs in academic and advanced writing vs other genres

A common feature of phrasal verbs is that they are colloquial: belt out (sing very loudly), harp on (complain repeatedly about something), pig out (eat a lot of food), etc. They can be commonly replaced by single verbs, such as:

make up => constitute
put forward => propose
carry out => execute

Phrasal verbs are considerably more frequent in other genres than academic writing such as in TV and movies subtitles, and far more frequent in blogs/webpages and fiction.

Since academic writing is anything but colloquial, this isn’t surprising. But the difference is striking.

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What are the top phrasal verbs in academic writing?

Despite this fact, phrasal verbs shouldn’t be completely avoided in academic papers. Most phrasal verbs are neutral rather than informal, and it’s sometimes more appropriate to use a phrasal verb than a single verb. For example, carry out a study is much more frequently used than do a study or perform a study.

The question is which phrasal verbs should you avoid, and which should you use? The following is a list of the top 10 phrasal verbs considered to be most commonly used in academic writing.

Point out ('The authors pointed out that solid evidence was lacking')
Carry out ('All procedures were carried out according to the guidance')
Go on ('A number of initiatives have been going on to tackle the problem')
Make up ('Total exports made up 54% of the GDP')
Set up ('A strategy was set up to train the software for automated analysis')
Take on ('The legislation will take on an important role in shaping policies')
Turn out ('This turned out to be due to errors in the distribution data')
Bring about ('There were successful attempts to bring about societal change')
Give up ('Countries pledged to give up chemical weapons')
Find out ('A review was done to find out factors affecting disease outcome')

On the other hand, phrasal verbs you should avoid are those that are informal, or commonly replaced by single verbs. For example in medical papers investigating the effect of physical exercise, the verb exercise is used instead of the phrasal verb work out. So you should avoid using the latter.

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The difference in phrasal verb usage between academic subjects

Not only does phrasal verb usage vary across genres, but also across disciplines within the genre of academic writing. Below are the top 10 phrasal verbs used in humanities vs science and technology, in decreasing frequency order:

Humanities Science/Technology

1. Point out 1. Carry out

2. Go on 2. Point out

3. Take on 3. Set up

4. Set up 4. Make up

5. Make up 5. Turn out

6. Turn out 6. Go on

7. Take up 7. Pick up

8. Carry out 8. Take on

9. End up 9. Find out

10. Open up 10. Come up

Mastering phrasal verbs in academic writing

Because phrasal verbs aren’t so common in academic writing, you should think carefully before using them - but not discard them completely. Pay close attention to when and how they’re used when reading various papers.

First, always make sure that they aren’t informal in style. You can check this in an online dictionary.

Second, consider the single-verb alternative(s) and decide which is better to use in the context of your subject area, and specific sentence.

Third, reading essay and papers by other authors and identify and evaluate the phrasal verbs that they use, and the method in which they are used.