As noted in the section on writing objectively, academic writing tends to use an impersonal tone. This is most often connected with the use of passive, which removes the actor from the sentence. It is generally preferrable in writing, including academic writing, to use active rather than passive voice, though this is not always possible in academic writing if the tone is to remain impersonal without use of I or other pronouns. There is, however, a special group of verbs in English called ergative verbs, which are used in the active voice without the actor of the sentence.

This page explains what ergative verbs are and gives a list of ergative verbs, referencing these against some common academic word lists to show which may be suitable for academic English.

What are ergative verbs?

In English, verbs can be transitive (taking an object), intransitive (not taking an object), or both. Only transitive verbs can be made passive, since the passive is constructed by making the object of the sentence the subject. For example:

Ergative verbs are verbs which are both transitive and intransitive, with the additional quality that the object can become the subject without changing the verb to passive. In this intransitive use, there seems to be no agent of the action, since the original subject is missing, making their use objective and therefore more academic. For example:

• I dissolved the white powder in the liquid. (transitive)
• The white powder dissolved in the liquid. (intransitive)
• The white powder was dissolved in the liquid. (passive)

• The government increased the tax rate in 2010. (transitive)
• The tax rate increased in 2010. (intransitive)
• The tax rate was increased in 2010. (passive)

• The workers started the building work six months ago. (transitive)
• The building work started six months ago. (intransitive)
• The building work was started six months ago. (passive)

Ergative verbs are often used to show a change of state (dissolve, form, increase, melt, start) and movement (move, navigate, sweep, turn), and verbs of this sense are common in academic writing. They can also be used for cooking (bake, boil, cook, marinate) and for action involving vehicles (crash, double-park, drive, rev up, slow down, speed up), and verbs with these senses would be less common in academic writing.