Expressing Caution

Direct statements or statements implying full certainty should be avoided in academic writing. This is because issues are complicated and can be viewed from different perspectives. Look at this statement:

Advertising informs us about the choices we have.

This is only one way of looking at advertising. Another perspective is: 

Advertising manipulates people.

Because it is only one perspective, the first statement needs to be written with caution. For example:

Advertising may inform us about the choices we have.

Advertising tends to inform us about the choices we have.

1. Being cautious when giving explanations or hypothesizing

These are a few forms using words such as may, could, possible, likely, etc. 

The obesity crisis  

may be

could be 

might be

is almost certainly

due to our sedentary lifestyle.

It may be

It could be

It is possible

It is likely

It is probable

It is almost certain

the obesity crisis

is a result of our sedentary lifestyle.

 2.  Devices to avoid overgeneralisation

To generalise means to draw a general conclusion from several examples. This can be a useful thing to do. For example, you may see different bulls over time, and you notice that all the bulls have horns, so you correctly conclude that all bulls have horns. However, overgeneralisation is bad. This is when you generalise more than is reasonable, and therefore reach a false conclusion.For instance, ‘All men like football’ is an overgeneralisation. A lot of men do, but not all. The following phrases will help you to avoid overgeneralising. 

Use these expressions instead of ‘all’ 

(Only)  A small number of

A  minority of

A  significant proportion of

A  majority of

Most

Almost  all

people in my country prefer to live in cities.

3. Use adverbs of frequency

Divorce

occasionally

sometimes 

often

frequently

generally

nearly  always

has a negative effect on children.

4. Being cautious when writing about the future

We can never be sure of what will happen in the future, we can only speculate (make an educated guess). Therefore, we should show caution when writing about the future. Use these structures to rewrite the sentences that follow.

Severe  weather

may

could   

might

is  likely to 

will probably 

will almost certainly

become more common in the future.

There is a small chance

It is possible

It is likely
It is almost certain
There is a strong possibility

that the situation will  improve in the long term.

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