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Useful Language - Hedging

Hedging

Hedging is something we do related to being vague and/or cautious for two very different reasons: because we want to be true/loyal to facts or just the opposite!

Sometimes you want to distance yourself from facts and opinions (see also Sitting on the fence), because you don't want to state a fact too categorically (politeness) and/or because you know you can't prove it (love to using meaningful language!), and your message is not intended to be interpreted as The Truth.

Some people want to manipulate people's opinion, and pretend they are scientific and informed but they know they aren't! (pseudoscientific information in the media; news which pretend to be informed and aren't, actually!).

For both of these very different communicative attitudes we have the resource of hedging. Consider these expressions:

It seems that...
It seems that
the endless voilence in Iraq, does not allow foreign forces to leave the country. (The author might be cautious or just stating a possibility. He or she might also be critical of this, ironic, and thus he or she would imply he does not believe this to be true.)
It seems that
the brains zones involved in the understanding of basic mathematical sentences are not the same as the one of the traditional, written, languages. (This is no evidence, the author is sharing with us his or her or such-n-such hypothesis.)

Similarly,
It appears that
It appears that there are still some people who refuse to recognize...
It appears that the new budget presented before the parliament last week ...
It appears that the war in ... set (notice: simple past) an important precedent in determining the geopolitical landscape.
It appears that the new budget has failed to meet the needs...

This appears to be
This appears to be an exact copy of...
This appears to be a highly unusual case and without further tests it is impossible to draw conclusions
This appears to be the most commonly used form in English language...

Negotiations seem to have broken down
Negotiations seem to have come to an end
Negotiations seem to be failing / going nowhere
Negotiations seem to be moving ahead at a steady pace / going smoothly
Negotiations seem to be going on again
Negotiations seem to be deadlocked, but there is a possibility of advance...
Negotiations seem to have moved away from the public arena into the process of informal consultations between key countries facilitated by
A ceasefire seems to be possible now that...
A ceasefire seems to have been reached
A ceasefire seems to be coming
A ceasefire seems to be the only way people can gain protection

(More distance: use "would")
It would appear that
It would seem that certain behaviors are inevitable
They would seem to be

(Using the passive)

It is widely recognized that
At present, it is widely recognized that personal and professional development is one of the most decisive motivations in job performance.
It is widely recognized that this problem can be solved through the ...
It is widely recognized that quality is fundamental to...
It is widely recognized that the most effective form of ... / way to ...

It is not known whether
It is believed that (cf. People think, Experts believe)
It is said that (cf. People say, Experts say)
It has been shown that (cf. "A team of scientists led by So-n-So at the University of Whatever, (Country), studied Whatever)

(With noun phrases)
There is little doubt that
There is some doubt that
There is no doubt that
There is some evidence