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Career Track BusinessCareer Track Economics and FinanceCareer Track Business AdministrationCareer Track Information Systems EngineeringCareer Track Educational SciencesCareer Track Medicine and Health SciencesCareer Track Tourism and HospitalityCareer Track Occupational Health and SafetyCareer Track Legal EnglishAdvanced English rarely states things as absolute fact — native speakers use "hedging" language to sound more careful, diplomatic, and academically credible. This is essential for reports, presentations, and professional discussions.
Why this matters This lesson connects directly to your progress: it covers softening verbs: seem, appear, suggest, indicate; modal and opinion hedges; adverbs and phrases of caution. Mastering this content lets you move forward confidently, and reinforces patterns you'll use again later. Take time to review every example before moving to the assessment — repetition is what actually locks knowledge in long-term.
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The goals of this lesson.
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You already state facts directly. This lesson teaches hedging and mitigation — softening claims in academic and professional English ("It seems that..." instead of a flat statement).
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Instead of stating something as absolute fact, these verbs present it as a likely interpretation — leaving room for other possibilities.
| Direct | Hedged |
|---|---|
| The strategy was effective. | It seems the strategy has been effective. |
Examples
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Modal verbs like "could" and "might," and personal opinion phrases like "I would tend to," soften a claim while still expressing a clear position.
Examples
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Words like "somewhat," "relatively," and "arguably," along with phrases like "to some extent," add precision by acknowledging degrees of certainty.
Examples
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Read the text and answer the questions. You can try as many times as you want.
The report's conclusions must be read with some caution. It appears that the new policy has had a positive effect on productivity, though it's not entirely clear whether other factors contributed. The data seems to support a moderate improvement, but the sample size was arguably too small for definitive conclusions.
Researchers tend to agree that further study is needed. It could be argued that seasonal variation played a role, though this may be due to incomplete data collection. Generally speaking, the results are promising, but they should be interpreted with appropriate caution.
1. How does the report describe the policy's effect?
2. What issue does the text raise about the sample size?
3. What do researchers tend to agree on?
4. What could explain incomplete data?
5. How does the text summarize the overall results?
💪 It could be argued that you're now writing at a near-native level of nuance. Review this lesson, or keep advancing!
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Usa las pistas para completar cada palabra en inglés. Sin calificar — repite las veces que quieras.
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The essentials of this lesson, summarized.
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Key terms to remember.
gives the impression of being true, without full certainty
Hedging verbs like "seems" soften a claim, making it sound like an observation rather than an absolute fact — common in academic and professional writing.
Formal / academicCollocations: it seems that, seems to suggest, seems likely
Synonyms: appears, looks like, gives the impression
seems to be true based on available evidence
Similar to "seems", but slightly more formal; frequently used to present a claim cautiously in reports.
Formal / academicCollocations: it appears that, appears to be, appears likely
Synonyms: seems, looks as though, would seem
to indicate something indirectly, without stating it outright
Using "suggest" instead of a direct claim distances the writer from full responsibility for the conclusion.
Formal / academicCollocations: suggest that, would suggest, data suggest
Synonyms: indicate, imply, point to
the outcomes or findings of research or an action
Hedged with "might indicate", the noun avoids overstating what the results actually prove.
Formal / academicCollocations: results indicate, in light of the results, preliminary results
Synonyms: findings, outcomes, data
facts and information, especially for analysis
Treated as the subject of a hedged claim ("seems to support"), keeping the conclusion appropriately tentative.
Formal / academicCollocations: data suggest, based on the data, data set
Synonyms: information, figures, statistics
presented as a reasoned claim or position
"It could be argued that" is a classic hedging frame that presents an opinion as one possible reasoned position, not a fact.
Formal / academicCollocations: it could be argued, argued that, widely argued
Synonyms: claimed, contended, maintained
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Tap the words in the correct order to form the sentence. Ungraded — repeat as many times as you like.
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Tap the correct verb form to complete each sentence. The other options are conjugations from other tenses — on purpose, so you learn to tell them apart.
Generally the strategy has proven successful
It that the strategy has been effective
The was arguably less significant than expected
I'm to think the report is largely accurate
It's to say that the results were mixed
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Listen to the full dialogue with the speaker buttons first, then fill in the missing words from this lesson's real conversation. Ungraded — repeat as many times as you like.
Do you the will succeed?
It seems that the two share values, so it could work.
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You need at least 80% to unlock the next lesson. You can retake it as many times as you want — your best score is saved.
1. Select the correct match for: "One could argue that the timing wasn't ideal."
2. What does this mean: "I would tend to agree with that assessment."?
3. "It's not entirely clear why the results varied so much." — which one is correct?
4. Select the correct match for: "This could potentially explain the discrepancy."
5. Choose the equivalent of: "To some extent, both explanations may be valid."
6. Choose the equivalent of: "The impact was arguably less significant than expected."
7. Which option matches: "The findings tend to confirm our initial assumptions."?
8. Select the correct match for: "This would suggest a change in consumer behavior."
9. "There is some evidence to suggest this is the case." — which one is correct?
10. Select the correct match for: "Generally speaking, the strategy has proven successful."
Review — Lesson 50 What matches: "We had the house painted last month."?
Review — Lesson 50 What matches: "We should get the contract reviewed by a lawyer."?
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You now soften claims with hedging language. Next lesson: nominalization, turning actions into formal nouns.
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Practice this lesson's vocabulary with a word search and flashcards. Ungraded — play as many times as you like.
Tap the first and last letter of a hidden word to find it. Los términos de varias palabras van sin espacios en el tablero (ej. "give up" aparece como GIVEUP).
Elige la respuesta correcta. Si aciertas, la tarjeta queda lista por hoy; si fallas, vuelve a aparecer pronto para reforzarla. Tu progreso se guarda en este dispositivo.