7 Test your ability to spot appropriate language
The purpose of this section is to apply your learning in identifying hedging and boosting language.
Activity 3 Test your ability to spot hedging or boosting in action
Read the sentences below, specifically looking for use of hedging (softer or tentative) and boosting (strong) words.
Identify the words that boost or hedge claims by selecting the highlight tool and clicking the relevant words once.
Discussion
Some words such as, ‘actively’ and ‘enormous’ make the claims stronger. ‘Must’ indicates an urgency to do something. On the other hand, ‘some’, ‘maybe’ and ‘perhaps’ are commonly used to make claims cautiously as these tone down the assertion.
The skill here is the judgement of recognising situations where boosting or hedging are more effective; this will come with experience and also by reflecting on your tone of communication.
Boosting words tend to be used a lot in social media, a subject you will consider in Session 8.