Hedging seem to have been accounted for in the

Hedging refers to the use of words or Times’ reporting.

phrases that make claims less general 2. There is a likelihood that interest
or certain. Hedging is useful because it rates affect housing affordability, al-
makes you seem thoughtful, reason- though exact correlations vary by re-
able, and skeptical. It is also useful be- gion.
cause using hedging phrases actually 3. It may be reasonable to conclude
does tend to you make you more rea- that urbanization contributes to housing
sonable and fair. price increases, though other factors
also play a role.
Here are examples of sentences that 4. There is some support for the claim
use hedging. that housing prices in certain areas
have been dramatically influenced by
Gravity foreign investment.
1. It appears that gravity plays a fun- 5. Housing prices might stabilize in re-
damental role in the behavior of sponse to new zoning regulations,
planetary bodies. though this outcome is uncertain.
1. This is an inappriate hedge since
it hedges a claim that does not Illegal Immigration to the U.S.
need to be hedged. 1. It appears that economic conditions
2. Here would be an appropriate in neighboring countries have played a
hedge: large role in the rate of illegal immigra-
1. It appears that scientists in tion to the U.S.
the 18th century did not quite 2. There is some evidence to suggest
understand the role that grav- that Trump’s relatively srict enforce-
ity plays in the behavior of ment at the border had some effect on
planetary bodies. migration rates, though the exact level
2. There is considerable support for the impact is debatable.
claim that gravitational forces have an 3. It may be true that illegal immigra-
important influence not only large ob- tion contributes to decline in wages,
jects but also microscopic particles. though research shows varying out-
3. One could very well assume that comes by region and industry.
gravity has remained constant over 4. One could argue that the rate of ille-
time, though evidence remains specula- gal immigration is controlled more by
tive as we have no real record. labor demands within certain sectors of
4. It seems likely that future studies of the U.S. economy than it is by laws.
gravitational waves could offer insights 5. It is possible that shifts in immigra-
into early universe conditions. tion policy might reduce illegal cross-
5. It is possible that our current under- ings, though historical data show mixed
standing of gravity is incomplete in im- results.
portant ways, given anomalies at quan-
tum scales.
Effects of Minimum Wage Laws
1. There is some evidence that mini-
mum wage laws can affect employment
rates, but the extent of such effects is
Housing Prices widely debated.
1. Housing prices fluctuate in response 2. It could be argued that raising the
to both local and national economic fac- minimum wage helps reduce poverty in
tors, and these fluctuations do not
specific sectors, though overall effects the support the university offered for
vary. this claim seemed unpersuasive since it
3. Minimum wage increases might have seems clear that if one student is ad-
a limited impact on economic inequal- mitted, that is one less seat for another
ity, although opinions differ. student who might have been admitted.
4. There is limited support for the claim 2. The city council supposedly reported
that minimum wage laws significantly that the recent tax increase would not
increase inflation. affect local business profits. Yet, there
5. It appears that the effects of mini- is some evidence to suggest that the
mum wage laws differ across states due economic impact may be more signifi-
to variations in cost of living. cant than projected.
3. The study is claimed to have con-
Use of Documents in History cluded that the new medication is
1. Documents in history are often as- highly effective in reducing symptoms.
sumed to provide accurate accounts, However, it seems likely that more re-
though interpretations of such docu- search is needed to confirm these find-
ments can vary widely. ings across diverse patient groups.
2. There is a possibility that these docu-
4. The company stated that its emis-
ments reflect heavily biased perspec-
sions reduction strategy will signifi-
tives.
cantly decrease pollution in the area.
3. It can be argued that certain docu-
Still, one could argue that the data pro-
ments offer insights into prevailing so-
vided does not fully support this opti-
cial norms, though they may not repre-
mistic prediction.
sent all viewpoints of the time.
4. Some scholars suggest that primary 5. The school district may well have
documents serve as valuable sources claimed that its new policies had no
but are limited by the context in which clear effect on graduation rates. We
they were created. have not had time to check this claim.
5. It’s plausible to conclude that Jones’s However, thought it is true that the dis-
reliance on letters as key documents trict offered some data to support this
leads him to offer an incomplete picture claim, it appears that the evidence it
of historical events, especially as they gave falls well short of conclusive proof.
necessarily omit the voices of illiterate 6. Researchers reported that the ex-
people. perimental treatment showed no ad-
verse effects. But there remains a pos-
sibility that side effects could emerge
with further testing.
Sentence Pairs with Hedging in the Fol- 7. The administration asserted that the
low-up Sentence budget cuts would not affect essential
Instructions: Underline the hedging services. It is possible, however, that
words in the sentences below. Some of certain services could be negatively af-
the first sentences in each pair also fected in ways that may not be evident
have hedging. All of the second sen- at this point.
tences do. Some of the underlining is 8. The company argued that its new
done for you. policies would not reduce employee
satisfaction. However, admittedly lim-
1. Harvard, it is said, claimed in its ited evidence suggests that employee
brief that the percentage of certain mi- morale might be negatively affected,
nority students admitted to the school though the extent is uncertain. Further
had no impact on other students. But
research is needed before drawing a fi-
nal conclusion.
9. The government claimed that the
new trade agreement would have no
impact on local industries. But some ex-
perts suggest that the agreement
could, in fact, have subtle long-term ef-
fects on competitiveness.
10. Hens’s research paper argued that
the reforms were successful in improv-
ing educational outcomes. Neverthe-
less, it’s fair to conclude that further
study is probably needed to validate
these findings across different regions.

Assignment: Pick five or more phrases

to use in your next paper. Make it your
goal to find parts of your writing where
the facts you have offer only limited
support for claims. Hedge what you
yourself write.

All of the hedging terms are in common

use and do not need to be marked for
fear of charges of plagiarism.