This Article Examines = Dit Artikel Onderzoekt?: Onbezielde Onderwerpen met Actieve Werkwoorden in Engels en Nederlands Academisch Proza

Recent research has shown that an important characteristic of English science writing is the use of inanimate subjects with agentive verbs (IS-AV constructions), as in this paper suggests or this theory argues. This article explores the use of such IS-AV constructions from a cross-linguistic perspective, investigating, by means of two small-scale corpus studies, whether they are used differently in English and Dutch academic prose and how they are translated in English-Dutch translations in this genre. The results are relevant for Dutch writers of English academic texts and translators working with these languages, and raise a number of broader theoretical issues with respect to contrastive differences between English and Dutch, the possibility of English influence on Dutch academic prose, and the desirability of IS-AV constructions in this genre.