Hedging and Boosting

​Make your argument very strongly to communicate your point effectively.

​Hedging and Boosting

Headging

​Used to show courtesy and respect for others’ views.

to appear, appear as if/though + clause, appear/ seem +that + clause, to seem, seem to + verb, seems as if/though + clause,to argue, to assume, to believe, to doubt, to estimate, to indicate, to propose, to speculate, to suggest, to tend

• may, might, could, can, would, should.

• often, usually, sometimes, occasionally.

• apparently, approximately, conceivably, generally, maybe, necessarily, perhaps, possibly.

• likely, unlikely, probable, possible, doubtful, uncertain, potentially, practically, presumably, probably, roughly, seemingly, un/likely.

• assumption, claim, estimate, evidence, indication, likelihood, possibility, probability, suggestion, tendency, trend.

• It may be possible to obtain… , It is important to develop…, It is useful to study…

• It is apparent that ..., It may be perceived that ..., It has been suggested/argued/claimed that ..., It seems evident that ..., It could be the case that…, It might be suggested that… , There is every hope that…

• I believe that…, We believe that…, We feel that…, To our knowledge…, In our opinion…, It is our view that…, In our view…, It is generally agreed upon…, It is generally agreed that…, One would expect that…

• Based on the limited data…, According to this preliminary study…, In the view of many scholars…, According to some earlies studies…, In general …, As a rule…, quite, somewhat, seems reasonable, looks probable, reasonably, somehow, some, many, much, one of, if true, If anything.

​Examples

1. The results appear to show that many college students get sick at the end of the semester.

2. It is often thought that many people do not like to participate in electoral campaigns.

Boosting

​Used to display confidence, emphasis, and strength in the author’s claims, and to increase commitment.

• absolutely, actually, always, certainly, clearly, conclude, conclusively, confirm, definitely, demonstrate, determine, establish, evidence, evidently, find, indeed, know, obviously, prove, show undoubtedly, will, in fact

• striking effect, the importance of, the fact that, of most importance, of particular interest, firmly believe, It is clear that…

​Examples

1. ​It is clear that teenagers who are not involved in extracurricular activities within the school and/or outside of the school have challenges.