Hedging and Boosting

In this video we’re going to look at the language of hedging and boosting, two important aspects of style in academic writing. We will look at how these two styles use:

  • adverbs of frequency
  • adverbs and adjectives of certainty
  • modal verbs, and
  • other verbs to achieve their aims.

Don’t worry about these grammar terms; we’ll explain them as we go.

Hedging

So what is ‘hedging’? Well, we use hedging language when we want to soften what we are saying to avoid making too strong a claim.

Look at these two sentences. What’s the difference?

  • Students arrive late for Monday morning classes.
  • Students tend to arrive late for Monday morning classes.

In the first sentence, we are making a general statement. This sentence means that all students always arrive late on Monday mornings. In most cases, this is likely to be an over-generalisation and it would be quite easy to show that this was not always true.

In the second sentence, we have used tend to to limit - or qualify - our claim. This is called hedging. Hedging language is useful in academic writing as it is often not possible to make a 100% or absolute claim from the information or data that we have.

Let’s look at some common ways to add hedging in our writing.

Adverbs of frequency

Firstly, we can add an adverb of frequencysuch as: usually, normally, generally, often or sometimes. For example:

  • Students often arrive late for Monday morning classes.

Adverbs of certainty

Adverbs or adjectives of certainty can also be used. These are words like: possible/possibly; probable/probably; likely; maybe; perhaps; or generally speaking. For example:

  • Generally speaking, students arrive late for Monday morning classes.
  • Students are likely to arrive late for Monday morning classes.

We can also use the modal verbs may, might or could to show that we are not one hundred percent sure.

  • Students may find this exercise challenging.

Other verbs

Another way to hedge our ideas is to choose a verb such as the ones on the screen which show that we are being tentative.

Here’s an example of how we might combine different ways of hedging in a paragraph:

  • Our results suggest that rapid freeze and thaw rates during artificial experiments in the laboratory may cause artificial formation of embolism. Such experiments may not quantitatively represent the amount of embolism that is formed during winter freezing in nature. In the chaparral at least, low temperature episodes usually result in gradual freeze-thaw events (Hyland, 1998).

Notice how the writer has used a variety of ways to hedge. Be careful not to use too many in a sentence as this might lead to repetition or tautology like the one on the screen.

Boosting

Now let’s turn to boosting. ‘Boosting’ is basically the opposite of hedging. Whereas hedging softens a statement, boosting strengthens it so that the author can present a strong point of view.

Look at this example. Which words show that the writer has a strong point of view?

Here, the boosting words clearly, show, definite and undoubtedly are used to show a strong point of view and to persuade the reader of the author’s point.

Adverbs of frequency

Other typical expressions used in boosting include adverbs of frequency like always and never.

  • Employees will always respond positively in such circumstances.

Adverbs of certainty

Adverbs or adjectives of certainty are also used, such as: certain/certainly; obvious/obviously; definite/definitely; conclusive/conclusively; evident/evidently. There are some examples on the screen.

The modal verbs will or should can also be used. For example:

  • This will have an impact on future research in the field

Other verbs

Writers can also choose strong verbs like show, prove and evidence.

  • These figures prove that there has been strong growth as a result of policy change.

Hedging versus boosting

Let’s compare a sentence that first uses boosting language and then hedging language:

  1. Clearly, these sales figures show a definite increase in consumer confidence, which will undoubtedly have an impact on our share prices.

compared with...

2. These sales figures suggest a possible increase in consumer confidence, which may have an impact on our share prices.

You can see that the hedging and boosting language makes a big difference to the message.

The table on the screen summarises the language we have looked at in this video for hedging and boosting.

It is important to know when to hedge and when to boost. You also need to be aware of cultural differences. It may be more common in your country to boost rather than to hedge. Generally speaking, hedging is more common in English than boosting.

Boosting and hedging also differ by subject. Research has shown that hedging is more common in the Arts and the Social Sciences than in the hard sciences so it is important to become aware of how expert writers use hedging and boosting language in your discipline by reading and trying to notice their use. Now try the exercises below.