| Linguistic expression |
Hedge |
| modal verbs |
may, might, can, could, would, should |
| modal words: adjectives, nouns, adverbs |
possible, probable, un/likely; assumption, claim, possibility, estimate, suggestion; perhaps, possibly, probably, practically, likely, presumably, virtually, apparently |
| approximates of degree, quantity, frequency and time |
approximately, roughly, about, often, occasionally, generally, usually, somewhat, somehow, a lot of |
| epistemic verbs |
to believe, to assume, to suggest, to estimate, to tend, to think, to argue, to indicate, to propose, to speculate |
| parenthetic constructions |
I believe, I guess, to our knowledge |
| if clauses |
if true, if anything |
| indirect speech acts |
Could you open the window? |
| metalinguistic comments |
strictly speaking, so to say, exactly, almost, just about |
| tag questions |
..., isn’t it? |
| negative constructions |
didn’t...? |
| agentless passive |
it might be suggested |
| compound hedges |
seems reasonable, looks probable |
