Page 61 - Modul Academic Writing

… Practice …

Decide which sentence that is tentative [√].

1. Nowadays the urinary symptoms are of a lesser order.

2. Nowadays the urinary symptoms seem to be of a lesser order.

3. It may be said that the commitment to some of the social and economic
concepts was less strong than it is now.
4. The commitment to some of the social and economic concepts was less strong
than it is now.
5. The lives they chose may seem overly ascetic and self-denying to most women
today.
6. The lives they chose are overly ascetic and self-denying to most women today.

7. Furthermore, this proves that humans are wired to imitate.

8. Implications of these findings may be that, if moderation of alcohol
consumption in certain groups is strived for, it may be sensible to cut down
on the portrayal of alcohol in programs aimed at these groups and the
commercials shown in between.
9. Viewing a movie in which alcohol is portrayed appears to lead to higher total
alcohol consumption of young people while watching the movie.
10. It definitely proves that a movie in which a lot of partying is involved triggers
a social process between two participants that affects total drinking amounts.
Taken from http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/featfram.htm and
http://aeo.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/Files/Hedging/Hedging.html

Here are several expressions that you can use to make tentative sentences.

Words/phrases
Introductory verbs seem, tend, look like, appear to be, think, believe, doubt, be sure,
indicate, suggest
Lexical verbs believe, assume, suggest
Modal verbs will, must, would, may, might, could
Adverbs of frequency often, sometimes, usually
Modal adverbs certainly, definitely, clearly, probably, possibly, perhaps, conceivably
Modal adjectives certain, definite, clear, probable, possible
Modal nouns assumption, possibility, probability
That clauses  It could be the case that …
 It might be suggested that …
 There is every hope that …
To-clause + adjective  It may be possible to obtain …
 It is important to develop …
 It is useful to study …
Taken from http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/featfram.htm

55