Hedging

Hedging is a functional strategy that uses a word or phrase to avoid having to make a definite statement or commitment. Hedge words may also sometimes be used as fillers. Hedging is considered "correct" when writing up studies for the APA, for example, but the media tend to use overuse it.

Tarja Nikula describes it as a strategy used by speakers to mitigate and soften their utterances.

Typical hedge words

 * about
 * allegedly
 * apparent
 * basically
 * fairly
 * frequently
 * generally
 * hardly
 * like
 * may
 * maybe
 * might
 * often
 * possibly
 * probably
 * quite
 * rather
 * scarcely
 * seldom
 * usually
 * virtually

Typical hedge phrases

 * I don't remember
 * I'm not sure
 * I think
 * just about
 * More or less