hopefully

[Laurence Horn]

On Apr 4, 2012, at 6:59 PM, Dan Nussbaum wrote:

> In the sentence, "Hopefully, the sun will rise tomorrow" the word hopefully is being used incorrectly. What word should be used?
>
To elaborate a bit, the usage claim in the first sentence is incorrect; there's nothing incorrect about the use of "Hopefully" in the example.  Unless, of course, the speaker/writer would prefer that the sun not rise tomorrow but is convinced this wish will not be satisfied, in which case "Hopefully" would be the wrong word choice, and perhaps "Unfortunately" could be used instead.

LH

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