Hedges

1 Hedges or “softeners”

Here are a few words and phrases which are used to soften, qualify, “hedge” or mitigate statements, for the sake of politeness, or to simply soften a statement. The following classifies hedges into abstract pragmatic linguistic categories; this list is only a partial list.

1.1 Epistemic hedges

These soften statements by toning down the forcefulness of the truth value of statements.

basically according to actually apparent(ly) approximate(ly) broad(ly) clear(ly) comparative(ly) essential(ly), in essence hypothetically indeed likely most (+adjective) normal(ly) potential(ly) presumably probable, probably rare(ly) really relative(ly) roughly somehow somewhat theoretically the very +-most (adj.) virtually

1.2 Phrasal hedges

These are longer expressions that act like epistemic hedges.

as it were so to say so to speak (at) about if you know what I mean in a way kind of might as well be more of a ___ more or less most something like sort of more of a... sort of kind of can be looked at can be viewed as strictly speaking in one sense in some sense in a real sense would like to details aside I wouldn’t if not...

1.3 Possibility hedges

by (some/any) chance hopefully maybe perhaps possible, possibly in case (of) could can may might if you catch / get / understand my meaning / drift if you know what I mean (to say) if you/we know/understand (what it/that means)

1.4 Quality hedges

These expressions hedge the speaker’s commitment to the truth value of statements (truth quality), one’s certainty of statements, or the directness of such statements.

(as) we all know as far as we/I know as is (well) known as you/everyone/the reader know(s) as the saying goes (as) everyone/people/people/they say(s) from what I hear/know/see/understand in a sense one/you they say(s)/tell(s) it for all intents and purposes for all practical purposes one might say that let us say that in a manner of speaking don’t you think wouldn’t you say as far as I/we know as you know I / we understand that so-called -like, -esque, -ish quasi- practically in name only like

For example:

• That’s rather Clinton-like.
• That's rather Obama-esque.
• That’s more of a quasi-theory, if not a bad theory altogether.
• The color is kind of navy-ish.

1.5 Performative verb hedges

Certain verbs themselves perform the action they refer to. For example, consider the verb ‘declare’ in “I declare that X is true.” In such statements, the verb itself performs the action of declaring, and linguists refer to such verbs as performatives. In a lecture, one can begin a discussion by saying, “I’d like to discuss X,” and one can indicate that X is only one’s opinion by stating, “I think / believe that...”

(would) like to/want to/can/may + verb (e.g., ask, comment, discuss, explain, mention, note, point out, remark, say, state, tell) I/we/one/people/the reader/they + (perhaps/like/mostly/sometimes + verb don’t think / believe (so) I believe / think / thought I’m just saying...

A relatively new expression in colloquial English is “I’m just saying,” which is added as an afterthought to distance oneself from the preceding statement; it is like saying, “that’s just an observation” or “I’m just stating that as a possibility.”

• I think the teacher looks cute. …. Hey, I’m just saying.

1.6 Other expressions

at least that is i.e., should have ought to

Other hedges include the colloquial phrases ‘like’ and ‘it’s like,’ which are discussed in the section on discourse particles.

2 See also

• Discourse markers
• Discourse particles
• Connectors
• Like (discourse particle)