As an English Language teacher, I often find that the concept of using cautious language is overlooked. This is strange, as the ability to use cautious language is essential when writing evaluations of evidence that has been detailed in an essay.
Cautious Language / Hedging / Tentative Language
Cautious language – also called hedging or tentative language – is a way for the writer to tell the reader how certain or uncertain he/she is about the ideas written about. This is important because not all evaluations are the same. Indeed, how could they be, if we consider that not all evidence is the same.
Therefore, before you comment on an idea, firstly think how convincing the evidence you have read is. For instance, is there enough evidence or have you only found one or two papers? Is the research used detailed, current and persuasive? Are you able to look at it objectively? These questions can help you evaluate it cautiously.
One of the issues in academic writing is that students can often be too certain in their evaluations, rather than taking a metaphorical step back and being tentative. Being too certain can lead to overblown concluding statements (see below).
Though such statements may be well-written, the writer should remember that that evaluations should be logical and cautious. In addition, the reader should be persuaded that what you write is somewhat believable. This does not mean the reader needs to agree with your viewpoint, but he/she should at least consider it to be valid. Cautious language helps you to do this.
Cautious Language Examples
Statements such as, “this definitely shows” or, “this clearly shows” should be avoided because they are too certain in their evaluations. To be able to write statements as certain as these, you would need a lot of convincing evidence. However, even if you did have such evidence, it would still be difficult to write statements as strongly worded as these.
One of the reasons for this, is that when we write evaluations, we are merely interpreting evidence that we have read, and who is to say that we are “right”? Therefore, step back and write the ideas in a more cautious way e.g. “this appears to show” or “this may mean”. Here the words “appears” and “may” indicate to the reader that this is your interpretation and you accept that others may disagree.
Other phrases you can use include “tends to”, “seems to”, “likely to”. So, in a sentence, you could write, “From the above evidence, it seems likely that the use of medicinal remedies in isolated quantities, may lead to…”
Also, you can structure your sentences so there are levels of caution e.g. “this probably means” is stronger than “this possibly means”, but still retains the cautious element.
Cautious Language Protects Us
As I wrote above, when you write an academic piece, you need to write so the reader (who could be the person marking the assignment) is persuaded in some way that what you have written and then evaluated is logical and coherent. Therefore, by using cautious language, it “protects us” in some way.
By that, I mean that if you are too certain in your approach (see examples above), the reader may not be persuaded that you have evaluated the evidence in an appropriate way. However, if you use cautious/tentative/hedging language, even if the reader does not agree with you, he/she should still accept that what you have written as sound. For example, writing, “this seems to suggest” is likely to receive a more positive response than writing, “it is completely certain that..”, which is likely to leave the reader thinking, “Really? Is it ‘completely certain’? Have you proved this?” So here, being cautious can “protect us” from criticism (or at least disagreement) that we may overwise have received.
If you do not use cautious language at the moment, then you should definitely do it (I know that last phrase was not cautious, but I want to help you in your writing!).
Neil Proofs (@neilproofs) | TikTok