The care and maintenance of hedges

The notion of ‘hedging’ dates back to Lakoff (1972), but its nature and its consequences for English Language Teaching are not well understood. This article offers a description of the term and of some of its difficulties, and suggests a distinction between ‘proposition’ and ‘comment’ as a clarification of some of the problems. It then outlines some of the ways in which an understanding of commentative language are important in the ELT classroom, and suggests ways in which this understanding can be fostered.