In this paper we define a new notion of frame based formulas. We show that the well-known examples of formulas arising from a finite frame, such as the Jankov-de Jongh formulas, subframe formulas and cofinal subframe formulas, are all particular cases of the frame based formulas. We give a criterion for an intermediate logic to be axiomatizable by the frame based formulas and use this criterion to obtain a simple proof that every locally tabular intermediate logic is axiomatizable by the Jankov-de Jongh formulas. We also show that not every intermediate logic is axiomatizable by the frame based formulas.