Which academic adjectives and phrases are best?

Now that we’ve discussed and exemplified the functions of adjectives, how to identify this word class and its various types, and how to follow the rules which are most important for creating grammatical sentences, this fifth and final chapter now focuses on the accurate use of adjectives in academic contexts. Because there are particular adjectives and associated expressions which are more suitable when studying academically – such as when conducting research or writing university-level assignments, we’ve provided some of the most common academic adjectives and expressions for you below. Consider bookmarking or printing these words and phrases so that you can refer back to this language with ease:

150 Common Academic Adjectives:

absolute, abstract, acceptable, accessible, active, actual, acute, additional, adequate, alternative, apparent, applicable, appropriate, available, average, basic, central, certain, clear, common, competitive, complete, complex, comprehensive, considerable, consistent, conventional, correct, crucial, detailed, different, difficult, distinct, dominant, early, effective, equal, equivalent, essential, excessive, experimental, explicit, extensive, extreme, favourable, final, fixed, following, formal, frequent, fundamental, general, high, human, ideal, identical, immediate, important, incomplete, independent, indirect, individual, influential, inherent, initial, interesting, internal, large, leading, likely, limited, logical, main, major, male, maximum, mental, minimal, minor, misleading, modern, natural, necessary, negative, normal, obvious, original, overall, parallel, partial, particular, permanent, physical, positive, possible, potential, practical, primary, prime, principal, productive, profound, prominent, radical, random, rapid, rational, real, realistic, recent, related, relevant, responsible, restricted, scientific, secondary, selective, separate, significant, similar, simple, social, special, specific, stable, standard, strict, substantial, successful, successive, sufficient, suitable, surprising, symbolic, systematic, theoretical, traditional, typical, unique, unlike, unlikely, unsuccessful, useful, valid, valuable, varied, various, visual, vital, widespread

15 Common Academic Phrases:

“The experiment was an absolute success.”

“One of the basic arguments of the study is that women are smarter than men.”

“It’s a competitive market when attempting to publish language research.”

“A distinct difference was found in the second set of results.”

“This methodology has been an effective tool for conducting research.”

“One fundamental requirement of the study was the use of male participants.”

“This was not the ideal scenario for creating valid results.”

“One leading theory is that children learn these aspects quicker than adults.”

“It is misleading that some people reacted to the vaccination more quickly.”

“This is one of many permanent features in this city.”

“The opposing opinion would in fact be a more realistic argument.”

“This significant information was not discovered during the first investigation.”

“These patterns are somewhat unique to the first set of participants.”

“Smith’s (2010) investigations provided more valid results.”

“Air pollution may be one of the most widespread causes of lung cancer.”

Well done on completing our short reader on adjectives. You may now wish to check your knowledge and understanding by accessing and completing our professionally made beginner, intermediate and advanced worksheets on this topic.