Tentative language continued

                           

 

Academic writing often uses tentative words and expressions such as may, might and could. Why might this be?

The writer might want to express hesitancy about something that they are not sure about. The evidence or the results from an experiment, for example, might be inconclusive. The writer might want to talk about possibilities for what the results means without being too firm in their conclusions. 

A writer might also be tentative when they want to think about how a particular theory or framework could be applied in a context other than that intended by the author. The example on the previous page, ‘Andrews (2017) might view this as…’, could be a case of this. Andrews might have written something in 2017 that could be applied to a different context. The writer couldn’t say for sure what Andrews would say on this new matter but might be able to say it is likely or possible that Andrews would take this view based on what they have read. Using a structure like this ‘x might view this as…’ is a nice way of showing your understanding of an idea beyond its original context.

Additionally, the author might want to explore different possibilities for some phenomenon. Writers weigh up evidence or think about alternative explanations for something. Indeed, this is something that is often rewarded in essays. 

Finally, academic writers often use tentative language out of what is sometimes called 'academic humility'. This is a recognition of the fact that no essay, book or journal article ever has the final word on any topic. There might always be another piece of research that changes our understanding. So, as a general rule, writers tend towards tentative writing.