C1 — AdvancedWriting· Academic writing
Hedging and Academic Style
Express claims with the right degree of caution and keep an appropriately formal register.
16 min Challenging
Hedging devices
- modals: may, might, could
- verbs: suggest, indicate, appear, tend to
- adverbs: arguably, largely, relatively, apparently
- quantifiers: some, a number of, the majority of
Formality
- Avoid contractions and phrasal verbs: investigate rather than look into.
- Prefer nominalisation: the implementation of the policy.
- Attribute claims: According to Rahmani (2024), ...
Absolute claims such as this proves are risky; the data suggest is safer and more accurate.