Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
@grammargirl That feels like a pedantry battle no one’s fighting anymore. It felt very old fashioned to me the first time I read it (Strunk & White?) decades ago.
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@grammargirl That feels like a pedantry battle no one’s fighting anymore. It felt very old fashioned to me the first time I read it (Strunk & White?) decades ago.
@overholt @grammargirl precisely, I was raised on Strunk and White, and it has taken me a long time to undo their rote strictures. I prefer now to write as I naturally speak, which honestly still comes across as stuffy. But yes I will use “hopefully” that way.
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
@grammargirl "The treaty will hopefully be ratified" or "the treaty will be hopefully ratified"? Best to avoid the ambiguity if the intent isn't clear from the context.
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
I know of the objections to this use of hopefully but I don't care. It feels natural to me. And I've just realised that German has "hoffentlich" for this use case and does not need to say "hoffnungsvoll" - possibly a word that English lost at some point?
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
@grammargirl
If the treaty is feeling hopeful at the time of the ratification then it is correctly written; however, this should more likely be restated to clarify why the inanimate object is experiencing emotion. The parties to the thing might hopefully enter into an agreement. -
@grammargirl
If the treaty is feeling hopeful at the time of the ratification then it is correctly written; however, this should more likely be restated to clarify why the inanimate object is experiencing emotion. The parties to the thing might hopefully enter into an agreement.@grammargirl
If you really want to keep the word and the comma then I'd be the reader scanning for context to understand what you mean, unless you'd add a few words. For example, Hopefully, I'm predicting the treaty will be ratified. That way, I'm understanding who it is who is feeling the hope. -
@grammargirl That feels like a pedantry battle no one’s fighting anymore. It felt very old fashioned to me the first time I read it (Strunk & White?) decades ago.
@overholt That's what I thought (and hoped) too, but the comments across three networks are proving me wrong.
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
@grammargirl I think it would depend on the context though. I don't think I'd use it like that in anything remotely formal. But a post here, or maybe on my blog, sure.
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
@grammargirl
As I regularly report, when I ask my students about this (Ivy-League graduate writing students), for the last several years not a single one has even been aware of a "hopefully" controversy, let alone had an opinion on it. -
@grammargirl
As I regularly report, when I ask my students about this (Ivy-League graduate writing students), for the last several years not a single one has even been aware of a "hopefully" controversy, let alone had an opinion on it.@jessesheidlower That's what I had expected to find!
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@jessesheidlower That's what I had expected to find!
@grammargirl
The people who respond to such queries, or who complain to news organizations about the purported misuse of shibboleths, are a very, very, very tiny proportion of language users. -
@grammargirl
As I regularly report, when I ask my students about this (Ivy-League graduate writing students), for the last several years not a single one has even been aware of a "hopefully" controversy, let alone had an opinion on it.@jessesheidlower I'm kind of trying to recreate the most recent survey Garner said he did, but I'm using the sentence from AHD surveys and tried to frame it in a less leading way than Garner.
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@grammargirl That feels like a pedantry battle no one’s fighting anymore. It felt very old fashioned to me the first time I read it (Strunk & White?) decades ago.
@overholt @grammargirl I tend toward the rigid side of language disputes, but I gave up on “hopefully” when the AP Stylebook did. Languages change.
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@grammargirl
The people who respond to such queries, or who complain to news organizations about the purported misuse of shibboleths, are a very, very, very tiny proportion of language users.@jessesheidlower Definitely. Still, I ask questions like this intermittently, and the reaction to this seems stronger than to some other questions. No matter what, much, much stronger than I expected.
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@overholt @grammargirl I tend toward the rigid side of language disputes, but I gave up on “hopefully” when the AP Stylebook did. Languages change.
@ClimateJenny @overholt But yes, anyone who follows "Grammar Girl" is likely to be on the prescriptive side, and I always try to remember that.
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
@grammargirl it’s good enough for Merriam to write a note about it and the reference links from Wikipedia are fun.
I say this as a born again disjuncter. I was one of those insufferable purists but as I’ve grown, I’ve started to enjoy the flourish and clarity that bastardisation of “official” language can bring. Now I bastardise with gleeful abandon.
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
@grammargirl yes, with the headcanon that "Hopefully" is an absolute of the "ablative/genitive/nominative/locative absolute" family.
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
@grammargirl I learned this as incorrect, and I avoid using it in writing, but I know I use it in casual conversation.
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
@grammargirl Strangely, I would! Interestingly, that would not mean I was using it strangely. Fortunately. Oddly, some people object to it.
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Would you use "hopefully" like this in a sentence:
Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified.
(I'm going to compare how people feel about this sentence today to an older survey that used the same sentence.)
@grammargirl As a teenager, I went through a phase of replacing “hopefully” with “sperably” in my writing (note that I was studying Latin at the time); but I could never bring myself to use it in speech, and eventually I dropped it in writing as well.
