ABSTRACT
While many RF studies have described the noun phrase structures typical of modern academic writing, few studies have documented the use of verbs in this register. In part, that focus reflects the dramatic historical increase in the use of nominal structures, leading to the assumption that there must have been a corresponding decline in use for verbal structures. The present chapter, however, investigates the possibility that the historical increase in nominal structures did not necessarily correspond to an equal decline in the use of verbs.
The findings confirm that nominal structures have increased in written informational registers, while verbs and clausal structures have generally decreased. However, the two trends are not equal in scope: the increase in nominal structures is considerably greater than the decrease in verbal structures. In addition, the findings show how the overall decrease in verb frequency is due to a reduced use of high-frequency verbs, rather than a reduction in the number of verb types. In particular, a reduction in the use of the copula BE and other existence verbs (e.g., appears, become, follow, seem, etc.) accounts for over half of the overall decline.
