Sabanci University Writing Fall 2005

Hedging Language

Emma Jake

TASK 1  Emma and Jake have different ways of writing and speaking. Emma is very subjective and usually over-generalises but Jake is more objective when looking at things. Who do you think wrote these statements?

All Turkish pop singers sing about love. It is said that the earthquake was caused by the weather. Generally, the holiday was great. Eating fish and yoghurt will surely lead to stomachache. Dogs often protect their owners. English people always drink tea with milk. Highly intelligent children tend to misbehave due to boredom. Everyone knows how to read and write.

TASK 2  What do you think about Emma’s sentences? Are they really true? How did Jake make his statements less over-general? Why are his statements better?

 Choose the best answer A, B or C Hedging Language is useful because it helps you to:

A sound more intelligent B be more objective C avoid telling the truth

Hedging Language 1 Sabanci University Writing Fall 2005

TASK 3  The hedging language in the box can be used in speaking or writing and will help you to avoid over-generalising. It is now recognised that an important feature of academic writing is the concept of cautious language, often called "hedging" or "vague language". In other words, it is necessary to make decisions about your stance on a particular subject, or the strength of the claims you are making. Read the table below. Which ones do you already know?

Language used in hedging:

1. Introductory e.g. seem, tend, look like, appear to be, think, believe, verbs: indicate, suggest

2. Certain lexical e.g. believe, assume, suggest verbs 3. Certain modal e.g. will, must, would, may, might, could verbs: 4. Adverbs of e.g. often, sometimes, usually, hardly ever frequency 4. Modal adverbs e.g. probably, possibly, perhaps, conceivably,

5. Modal adjectives e.g. probable, possible

6. Modal nouns e.g. assumption, possibility, probability

7. That clauses e.g. It could be the case that … e.g. It might be suggested that … e.g. Research suggests/indicates that … e.g. It is possible that…

8. To-clause + e.g. It may be possible to obtain … adjective e.g. It is important to develop … e.g. It is useful to study …

9. e.g. Most / Many / Some / Several … Quantifiers

TASK 4  Change these sentences of Emma’s using hedging language in parenthesis and take out any over-general language

1. All people are afraid of snakes. (many) ______2. I will definitely pass the exam. (probably) ______3. Children always prefer sweets to fruit. (generally) ______4. Old people find using computers difficult. (tend to) ______5. In the future, e-books will be widely available. (might) ______6. The driver was surely drunk. (it is possible that) ______7. If you smoke, you will have health problems. (are more likely to) ______10. Nowadays, people are more interested in global politics. (seem to be)

TASK 5  The sentences are taken from the paragraphs about student stress and psychological well-being.

1. Families and teachers always force the students to study more. (usually) ______2. Parental pressure is an important reason for students’ stress. (modal) ______

3. Especially in Turkey, parents want their children to have popular jobs. (many) ______

4. 40% of young people in Turkey are not satisfied with the education they have. (Research suggests that…) ______

5. People who have close relationships have are more successful than other people. (be believed to …) ______

Also check this website: http://www.ceu.hu/writing/sfaccess.html

Features of academic writing Hedging EXAMPLES Compare the following:

1. It may be said that the commitment to some of the social and economic concepts was less strong than it is now. The commitment to some of the social and economic concepts was less strong than it is now. 2. The lives they chose may seem overly ascetic and self-denying to most women today. The lives they chose seem overly ascetic and self-denying to most women today.

3. Weismann suggested that animals become old because, if they did not, there could be no successive replacement of individuals and hence no evolution. Weismann proved that animals become old because, if they did not, there could be no successive replacement of individuals and hence no evolution. 4. Yet often it cannot have been the case that a recalcitrant trustee remained in possession of the property entrusted to him. Yet a recalcitrant trustee did not remain in possession of the property entrusted to him. 5. Recent work on the religious demography of Northern Ireland indicates a separating out of protestant and catholic, with the catholic population drifting westwards and vice versa. Recent work on the religious demography of Northern Ireland shows a separating out of protestant and catholic, with the catholic population drifting westwards and vice versa. 6. By analogy, it may be possible to walk from one point in hilly country to another by a path which is always level or uphill, and yet a straight line between the points would cross a valley. By analogy, one can walk from one point in hilly country to another by a

path which is always level or uphill, and yet a straight line between the points would cross a valley. 7. There are certainly cases where this would seem to have been the only possible method of transmission. There are cases where this would have been the only possible method of transmission. 8. Nowadays the urinary symptoms seem to be of a lesser order. Nowadays the urinary symptoms are of a lesser order.

Try the following exercises: 1. Hedging Exercises Exercise 1 Identify the hedging expressions in the following sentences.

1. There is no difficulty in explaining how a structure such as an eye or a feather contributes to survival and reproduction; the difficulty is in thinking of a series of steps by which it could have arisen. 2. For example, it is possible to see that in January this person weighed 60.8 kg for eight days, 3. For example, it may be necessary for the spider to leave the branch on which it is standing, climb up the stem, and walk out along another branch. 4. Escherichia coli, when found in conjunction with urethritis, often indicate infection higher in the uro-genital tract. 5. There is experimental work to show that a week or ten days may not be long enough and a fortnight to three weeks is probably the best theoretical period. 6. Conceivably, different forms, changing at different rates and showing contrasting combinations of characteristics, were present in different areas. 7. One possibility is that generalized latent inhibition is likely to be weaker than that produced by pre-exposure to the CS itself and thus is more likely to be susceptible to the effect of the long interval. 8. For our present purpose, it is useful to distinguish two kinds of chemical reaction, according to whether the reaction releases energy or requires it. 9. It appears to establish three categories: the first contains wordings generally agreed to be acceptable, the second wordings which appear to have been at some time problematic but are now acceptable, and the third wordings which remain inadmissible.

Press this button to check your answers:

Phrases used when Hedging

to a large extent seem(s) to demonstrate largely that there is some may/can/might generally evidence that at least (5 reasons) often it appears possible/possibly point to probably suggest(s) in some (many/most) cases there seems to be likely It would seem difficult to Arguably accept that ...would seem to In general I agree with It is generally indicate that... X...although.... assumed that I would not go so far It is difficult (to X does not really as to say ... accept/see/believe) that... (say/prove) his point in some ways quite somewhat suggests rather it would seem logical that to an extent tentatively It seems equally It appears likely that there is some likely that suggestive work

may be interpreted It is arguable http://home.ku.edu.tr/~doregan/Writing/Hedging.html

Hedging Language 6