9/9/2023 0 Comments Hopefully comma![]() Using the word hopefully as a substitute for the phrase "I hope" or "it is hoped" is the most common, but incorrect, usage. The use of hopefully as a verb in its own right usually comes from a mistaken belief about the meaning of the word. It's not a verb, as it is most commonly used. But because it's used improperly so often, its use can be highly annoying to many. It's a bug-a-boo of certain grammarians who know less than they think they do when they say it's "ungrammatical".The word hopefully seems like a common word with a well-known meaning. "Hopefully" as a sentence adverb is perfectly okay in current English. So this must be the sentence adverb sense. ", this can't be a manner adverb, because what sense would it make to say "It is true in a hopeful manner that. That's the sentence adverb sense of "hopefully". However, in "Waiting for his bus, Algernon looked up the street, hopefully" (note the extra comma) this is not a manner adverb if what is meant is that you hope that he looked up the street instead looking out in the cornfield, because he has little chance of seeing his bus coming through a cornfield. For instance, the manner adverb interpretation is found in "Waiting for his bus, Algernon looked up the street hopefully" if what is meant is that his manner of looking was hopeful, because he hoped to catch sight of the bus coming. "Hopefully" is ambiguous - it is (1) a sentence adverb (but frowned on by prescriptivist grammarians), or (2) a manner adverb. v He hopefully applied for the job v He applied hopefully for the job. (Paul was, sadly, mistaken.) v Paul was sadly mistaken. Presumably is obviously in the modal subclass some would include hopefully (as a pragmatic marker) in this subclass too, but most would use the more precise definition of 'modal' given above and instead subcategorise hopefully as attitudinal.Īgain, when true/central adverbial (verb-modifying) senses are available, care needs to be taken in medial usage: (Paul was, obviously, anxious.) v Paul was obviously anxious. v He actually missed school on the day of the cricket final! Medial positioning must then be watched carefully (ie for those words which can do dual duty as adverbs and pragmatic markers):Īctually, he missed school on the day of the cricket final. Hence are best regarded as sentence adverbs. There is a paraphrase in which they modify a clause or sentence, and However, even when used in this way, which they often are, (medial position) and can be considered as modifying such word or ![]() They can be positioned next to an adjective or adverb word or phrase Value of a proposition (a clause or sentence) with which it is Modal adverbs are used to express the speaker's view of the truth Presumably someone must know the answer to this question. Or is it the case that presumably is just as frequently misused as hopefully and that both are incorrect? If that usage of presumably outlined above is accepted as grammatically correct, is there some etymological reason for this usage? ![]() Where hopefully is modifying the verb think to mean that the thought is one which is thought hopefully or in a hopeful manner. Yet it is not accepted that "I think" is assumed as in: Where presumably is modifying the verb think to mean that the thought is one which is thought presumptuously or in a presuming manner. Put one other way, why is it standard (and I believe acceptable) English to assume an implicit verb when using presumably: In other words, why would the latter sentence be corrected to: While fully acknowledging, as noted in the discussion about the correct usage of hopefully, that hopefully is accepted in standard usage as a sentence modifier and as a disjunct I wonder about the etymology and more precise historical differences in the usage between hopefully and presumably. Presumably (adverb): used to convey that what is asserted is very likely though not known for certain.
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