hopefully

[Michael Newman]

The idea that "hopefully" as sentential adverb is incorrect is one of the best examples for linguists in intro classes to show the inadequacies of prescriptive approaches to grammar . It has it all,

more arbitrary and old-fashioned sounding than the fashion injunction against white shoes after Labor Day.
so ignored by speakers that college freshman have no idea that it is condemned
the proscribed object fills a useful semantic role
the prescribed use is less common than the proscribed one
the justifications are easily refuted

Unfortunately, in my experience the use of this and other similar cases gets through to about 10% of the class. The other 90 either remember or not the right answer for the midterm but go on and asking which uses are correct and which aren't in the kind of absolute sense assumed by prescribers. Hopefully, I'll figure out a way to increase the proportion who get it but I'm not too hopeful I will. 



Michael Newman
Associate Professor of Linguistics
Queens College/CUNY
michael.newman at qc.cuny.edu



On Apr 5, 2012, at 2:40 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:

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> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: hopefully
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> 
> Which, curiously enough, neither that professor nor anyone else would likely have used that sentence to express, anymore that they would say "Happily, the sun is shining" to mean that the sun is happy about shining.  "Hopefully" is a sentence adverb in such contexts and has been used as such for decades--while also being a manner adverb in "The dog is sitting hopefully by her food dish".  (Not arguing with Lisa here, but with her long-ago professor and my fellow Usage Panelists who vote with the majority to condemn this perfectly ordinary and proper usage.)
> 
> LH
> 
> On Apr 4, 2012, at 8:14 PM, Lisa Galvin wrote:
> 
>> Or, that the sun, filled with hope, will rise.
>> 
>> Or something.
>> 
>> Lisa Galvin
>> Seattle
>> 
>> On Apr 4, 2012, at 5:09 PM, Lisa Galvin <lisagal23 at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> 
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>>> Poster:       Lisa Galvin <lisagal23 at HOTMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: hopefully
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> I don't know about replacing "hopefully" with one word, but I had a professor long ago that would have said the proper usage in this sentence would be "I hope" rather than "hopefully".
>>> 
>>> To say hopefully the sun will rise tomorrow is (according to this interpretation) to say that the sun itself is full of hope that it will rise tomorrow.
>>> 
>>> Lisa Galvin
>>> Seattle
>>> 
>>> On Apr 4, 2012, at 4:21 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>>> Subject:      Re: hopefully
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> 
>>>> 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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