Academic writing skills: Hedging
What is ‘hedging’?
Hedging is the use of cautious language, making what you say less direct or certain.
Why use hedging language?
- Reduces the chance of disagreement from readers
- More precise when reporting results (particularly if there is not too much evidence)
- Prevents the writer from appearing too arrogant
- It is good academic style
Ways of hedging
- Modal auxiliary verbs (e.g. might)
- Tentative/cautious verbs (e.g. tend)
- Modal adjectives (e.g. probable)
- Modal nouns (e.g. possibility)
- Modal adverbs (e.g. apparently)
- Adverbs of frequency (e.g. occasionally)
- Reporting verbs (e.g. suggest)
(modal = expresses likelihood)
- These are often used in ‘it’ or ‘there’ phrases:
- ‘it’ phrases (+ adjective), e.g. It is probable that…
- ‘there’ phrases (+ noun), e.g. There is a possibility that…
| Hedging device | Example word/phrase |
|---|---|
| Tentative verb | Seem |
| Reporting verb | Suggest |
| Modal verb | May |
| Modal noun | Likelihood |
| Modal adjective | Possible |
| Modal adverb | Probably |
| Adverb of frequency | Often |
| ‘It’ phrases | It is likely that… |
| ‘There’ phrases | There is a chance that… |
What do you think about this? Is it acceptable? If not, why?
Studying in a different country is a very difficult experience for students. They will miss their families and homeland, particularly in the first few weeks. They will also find a problem with their academic studies, as university in the UK is very different from their home country.
Use of ‘will’ and ‘is’ makes it very certain.
Maybe something like this…
Studying in a different country is a very difficult experience for students. They may miss their families and homeland, particularly in the first few weeks. They could also find a problem with their academic studies, as university in the UK might be very different from their home country.
‘May‘, ‘could’ and ‘might be’ (for example) make it less certain, and therefore more acceptable.
Using hedging in your writing
Modal auxiliary verbs can be changed to express degrees of probability.
These claims become progressively weaker:
- A reduced speed limit will result in fewer motorway injuries.
- A reduced speed limit may well result in fewer motorway injuries.
- A reduced speed limit may result in fewer motorway injuries.
- A reduced speed limit could result in fewer motorway injuries.
Claims can be made stronger or weaker by use of double hedging, for example:
- It is almost certain that…
- It is highly improbable that…
- It seems likely that…
- The results seem to suggest that…
- There is a strong possibility that…
- There is a remote possibility that…
It is useful to distance yourself from the claims you make. The following are some ways you can do this:
- On the limited data available…
- In the view of some experts…
- According to this preliminary study…
- Based on informal observations made…
Another way of hedging is to limit by use of numbers/quantities, e.g:
- Many consumers have less confidence in the economy.
- Most consumers have less confidence in the economy.
- In most parts of the country, consumers have less confidence in the economy.
- Deregulation contributed to the banking crisis.
- The table suggests that Venezuelan scientists need help with writing English.
- The results indicate that there is a link between secondary smoking and cancer.
Don’t Overdo It!
Be careful not to make your claims so weak that they don’t really say anything! You will need to be careful that you use the right verb strengths and qualifications according to the evidence you have available. The more conclusive your results/sources the more certain you can be.
Overusing hedging can take away the weight of an academic argument, so be sure to use it carefully.