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Tentative Language - Sept 2017

Tentative language acknowledges that statements in academic writing cannot be made with absolute certainty. Academic claims require evidence and qualification through cautious phrasing. The document provides examples of tentative phrases like "may", "might", and "appears to" and shows how changing the phrasing of statements from definite to tentative acknowledges a lack of complete evidence and allows for variation.

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Rosezenie Carona
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430 views2 pages

Tentative Language - Sept 2017

Tentative language acknowledges that statements in academic writing cannot be made with absolute certainty. Academic claims require evidence and qualification through cautious phrasing. The document provides examples of tentative phrases like "may", "might", and "appears to" and shows how changing the phrasing of statements from definite to tentative acknowledges a lack of complete evidence and allows for variation.

Uploaded by

Rosezenie Carona
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Tentative Language: Introduces and explains the concept of tentative language in academic writing, including examples and their applications.

Tentative Language

What is tentative language?


In academic writing, it is acknowledged that many of the statements or claims that we present
cannot be made with absolutely certainty. We should not make statements without evidence
(research or data) and often we cannot be certain that our statements or ideas are true in every
case. Therefore academic writing requires us to qualify our statements and to do this we often use
tentative or cautious language.

Read the following statement:

1. Lectures run for 50 minutes and are presented using PowerPoint slides.

Consider the following questions:


 Are you 100% sure that all lectures run for 50 minutes? Is it possible to know this about
every lecture?
 Does every lecturer use PowerPoint slides? How do you know? Could you support it with
evidence?

How can you make this sentence more tentative? See the example below:

2. Lectures often run for 50 minutes and may be presented using PowerPoint slides.

The addition of the words in bold changes the meaning of the sentence by softening the statement,
and making it less absolute. This demonstrates your awareness that you don’t have sufficient
evidence to make such a strong claim. By using tentative language in this example, you are
acknowledging that there could be variation in the length of lectures and their method of delivery
around the world.

Examples

Examples of tentative phrases/vocabulary include:


 may/might/can/could
 possibly/probably
 it is likely/possible/unlikely/probable
 tends to
 appears to
 suggests that
 seems to

Developed by Learning Advisers 1


Notice how the meaning of each sentence becomes more tentative.

A drop in production will result from inexperienced staff but will not happen if training is provided.

A drop in production may result from inexperienced staff but is unlikely to happen if training is
provided.

Research outputs decrease whenever there is a reduction in funding to universities.

Research outputs tend to decrease whenever there is a reduction in funding to universities.

The writer is trivialising a very serious matter in this article.

The writer appears to be trivialising a very serious matter in this article.

Research shows that this method of intervention is the most effective.

Research suggests that this method of intervention is the most effective.

University students have difficulty in approaching assignment tasks which do not match their
experience.

University students seem to have difficulty in approaching assignment tasks which do not match
their experience.

Developed by Learning Advisers 2

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