London School of EconomicsST 111Hedging

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Hedging In academic writing, authors often have to be very cautious about the way they present their hypotheses, results, and conclusions. To indicate less than one hundred percent certainty they h... edge, i.e. avoid a categorical statement. They do so for two reasons: - to tone down their statements in order to reduce the threat of opposition from other researchers, - to avoid overstating their results as they are aware that theirs may not be the final word on the issue. Since the certainty of any research is hardly ever one hundred percent, the use of hedging (unless overdone) is part of academic writing. The following words and phrases are used as hedges: - modal verbs, e.g. may, might, could, would - verbs, e.g. appear, seem, suggest, indicate, assume, estimate, argue, tend to - nouns, e.g. assumption, suggestion, claim, possibility, estimate - adjectives, e.g. likely, probable, possible, apparent, certain - adverbs, e.g. perhaps, probably, possibly, apparently, certainly, presumably - words/phrases expressing degree, quantity, frequency, e.g. approximately, roughly, reasonably, about, somehow, somewhat, usually, generally, in general, as a rule - introductory phrases, e.g. in our opinion/view, we feel/believe that, to our knowledge, it is our view that, one would expect that - if clauses, e.g. if true EXERCISES I. Order the sentences from the most categorical statement to the most hedged. a) The Earth is probably round. …... b) The Earth is possibly round. …… c) The Earth is round. …... d) The Earth is apparently round. …... e) The Earth is said to be round. …… II. First underline the hedges and then reformulate the sentences so that they express categorical statements. 1. Issues highlighted in this study may be applicable to many higher education institutions across the country. 2. Agreement between the measured and predicted results is reasonably close. 3. In general, it is difficult to accurately detect the frequencies that have insignificant magnitudes. 4. As claimed by many, this new technique is very effective. 5. It appears that the differences between these two approaches are not great. 6. Support from the government and involvement of the private sector might help spread knowledge and skill to use the Internet to thousands of new users in developing countries. [Show More]

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