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fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M14.234 10.162L22.977 0h-2.072l-7.591 8.824L7.251 0H.258l9.168 13.343L.258 24H2.33l8.016-9.318L16.749 24h6.993zm-2.837 3.299l-.929-1.329L3.076 1.56h3.182l5.965 8.532l.929 1.329l7.754 11.09h-3.182z\"\u002F>",{"id":47,"title":48,"author":49,"body":50,"cefrLevel":714,"date":49,"description":715,"exercises":716,"extension":777,"faqs":778,"gcseTier":49,"intro":49,"language":791,"lastUpdated":49,"meta":792,"navigation":793,"path":794,"seo":795,"stem":796,"verbSlugs":49,"__hash__":797},"pages\u002Fenglish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fhedging-and-vague-language.md","Hedging and vague language in English: sort of, a bit, -ish, stuff and or so",null,{"type":51,"value":52,"toc":701},"minimark",[53,62,65,70,73,88,106,110,113,134,153,162,170,188,192,218,225,245,275,279,285,327,330,341,348,352,362,374,391,408,412,415,469,487,491,494,507,523,536,567,571,574,644,648,651,678,684],[54,55,56,57,61],"p",{},"English learners are taught to be clear, and then they meet actual English\nspeakers, who spend the whole day being deliberately unclear. ",[58,59,60],"em",{},"Sort of tired.\nA bit expensive. Eightish. Twenty or so. We talked about stuff."," None of this\nis failure to find the right word. It is a system, it is called hedging, and\nspeakers who cannot do it sound strangely intense, like someone reading their\nown witness statement over dinner.",[54,63,64],{},"This page covers the vagueness toolkit: what each hedge does, which are\nspoken-only, and the crucial cases where the vague version is the polite\nversion and precision would actually cause offence.",[66,67,69],"h2",{"id":68},"why-english-speakers-hedge","Why English speakers hedge",[54,71,72],{},"Two reasons, and they explain every pattern below.",[54,74,75,79,80,83,84,87],{},[76,77,78],"strong",{},"Certainty is a commitment."," Say ",[58,81,82],{},"the meeting is at six"," and you own that\nfact; say ",[58,85,86],{},"the meeting is sixish"," and you have room to be ten minutes out.\nEnglish speakers instinctively avoid promising more than they must.",[54,89,90,93,94,97,98,101,102,105],{},[76,91,92],{},"Directness has a social cost."," ",[58,95,96],{},"Your idea will not work"," is a blow.\n",[58,99,100],{},"I am not sure that quite works"," carries the same information with the force\ntaken out. A large share of English politeness is exactly this: saying less\nthan you mean and trusting the listener to decode it. The decoding matters\nfor learners in both directions, because when a British colleague calls your\nplan ",[58,103,104],{},"brave",", they are not admiring it. They are telling you no.",[66,107,109],{"id":108},"sort-of-and-kind-of","sort of and kind of",[54,111,112],{},"The general-purpose softeners. They attach to almost anything - adjectives,\nverbs, nouns, whole ideas - and turn the volume down:",[114,115,116,123,129],"ul",{},[117,118,119,122],"li",{},[58,120,121],{},"I am sort of busy tonight."," (busy, and this is a soft refusal)",[117,124,125,128],{},[58,126,127],{},"He kind of apologised."," (there were words, they were not quite an apology)",[117,130,131],{},[58,132,133],{},"It is sort of a long story.",[54,135,136,137,140,141,144,145,148,149,152],{},"British English prefers ",[58,138,139],{},"sort of",", American English ",[58,142,143],{},"kind of",", and in speech\nthey compress to ",[58,146,147],{},"sorta"," and ",[58,150,151],{},"kinda",". You will read those spellings in\nsubtitles and messages; do not write them anywhere formal.",[54,154,155,156,158,159],{},"As a stand-alone answer, ",[58,157,139],{}," is its own sentence: ",[58,160,161],{},"Do you two get on?",[114,163,164],{},[117,165,166,169],{},[58,167,168],{},"Sort of."," Translation: yes on paper, no in several important ways, and I\nam not going into it. The listener is expected to hear all of that, and does.",[54,171,172,173,175,176,179,180,183,184,187],{},"One warning: do not confuse hedging ",[58,174,143],{}," with the literal ",[58,177,178],{},"a kind of","\n(= a type of). ",[58,181,182],{},"It is a kind of fish"," classifies; ",[58,185,186],{},"it is kind of a fish","\nhedges, and means the speaker has doubts about the fish.",[66,189,191],{"id":190},"a-bit-the-british-favourite","a bit - the British favourite",[54,193,194,197,198,201,202,205,206,209,210,213,214,217],{},[58,195,196],{},"A bit"," means ",[58,199,200],{},"slightly",", and attaches to adjectives (",[58,203,204],{},"a bit cold","), adverbs\n(",[58,207,208],{},"a bit late",") and, as ",[58,211,212],{},"a bit of a",", to nouns (",[58,215,216],{},"a bit of a problem",").",[54,219,220,221,224],{},"The grammar is easy. The meaning is the trap, because British speakers use\n",[58,222,223],{},"a bit"," for understatement, and the understatement runs deep:",[114,226,227,233,239],{},[117,228,229,232],{},[58,230,231],{},"It is a bit expensive"," = it costs too much, we are not buying it.",[117,234,235,238],{},[58,236,237],{},"He was a bit rude"," = he was very rude and everyone noticed.",[117,240,241,244],{},[58,242,243],{},"That went a bit wrong"," = a small disaster has occurred.",[54,246,247,248,250,251,253,254,148,257,260,261,264,265,268,269,274],{},"The rule of thumb: when ",[58,249,223],{}," sits on a negative judgement, mentally remove\nthe hedge and turn the judgement up, not down. This is the single most\nvaluable decoding rule in British English. Note that ",[58,252,223],{}," prefers negative\ncompany; for positive ones, ",[58,255,256],{},"quite",[58,258,259],{},"pretty"," do the equivalent softening\n(",[58,262,263],{},"quite good",", ",[58,266,267],{},"pretty nice","), and they have their own decoding problems: see\n",[270,271,273],"a",{"href":272},"\u002Fenglish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fso-such-too-enough","so, such, too and enough"," for the\nintensifier family.",[66,276,278],{"id":277},"ish","-ish",[54,280,281,282,284],{},"The suffix ",[58,283,278],{}," makes anything approximate, and English speakers attach it\nwith total freedom:",[114,286,287,297,306,315],{},[117,288,289,290,264,293,296],{},"Times: ",[58,291,292],{},"come at sevenish",[58,294,295],{},"we left at tennish",".",[117,298,299,300,264,303,296],{},"Ages: ",[58,301,302],{},"he is thirtyish",[58,304,305],{},"fiftyish",[117,307,308,309,264,312,296],{},"Colours: ",[58,310,311],{},"a greyish sky",[58,313,314],{},"greenish water",[117,316,317,318,264,321,264,324,296],{},"Adjectives: ",[58,319,320],{},"warmish",[58,322,323],{},"tallish",[58,325,326],{},"cheapish",[54,328,329],{},"It is informal, spoken, and productive - meaning speakers invent new -ish\nwords on the spot and everyone understands them. Its most economical use is\nas a complete answer:",[114,331,332],{},[117,333,334,337,338],{},[58,335,336],{},"Was the hotel clean?"," - ",[58,339,340],{},"Ish.",[54,342,343,344,347],{},"That single syllable means ",[58,345,346],{},"somewhat, not really, do not push me to a yes",".\nThere is no shorter piece of honest communication in the language.",[66,349,351],{"id":350},"stuff-and-things","stuff and things",[54,353,354,357,358,361],{},[58,355,356],{},"Stuff"," (uncountable) and ",[58,359,360],{},"things"," (countable) stand in for whatever does not\nneed naming:",[114,363,364,369],{},[117,365,366],{},[58,367,368],{},"I need to buy some stuff for the trip.",[117,370,371],{},[58,372,373],{},"We talked about school and things.",[54,375,376,377,264,380,264,383,386,387,390],{},"The list-closers ",[58,378,379],{},"and stuff like that",[58,381,382],{},"and things like that",[58,384,385],{},"and that\nsort of thing"," end a list early and hand the rest to the listener: ",[58,388,389],{},"they sell\nbread and cakes and stuff like that",". Fluent speech uses these constantly,\nbecause finishing every list is slow and nobody needs the full inventory.",[54,392,393,394,397,398,148,401,403,404,296],{},"In writing, the calculation changes: a report that says ",[58,395,396],{},"we discussed money\nstuff"," reads as if the writer cannot remember the meeting. Speech tolerates\nvagueness that writing does not. If you need countable-versus-uncountable\nhelp with ",[58,399,400],{},"stuff",[58,402,360],{}," themselves, that is\n",[270,405,407],{"href":406},"\u002Fenglish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fcountable-and-uncountable-nouns","countable and uncountable nouns",[66,409,411],{"id":410},"vague-numbers-about-around-or-so-odd","Vague numbers: about, around, or so, odd",[54,413,414],{},"English pads its numbers as a matter of course:",[114,416,417,435,449],{},[117,418,419,422,423,264,426,264,429,264,432,296],{},[76,420,421],{},"Before the number",": ",[58,424,425],{},"about twenty",[58,427,428],{},"around six o'clock",[58,430,431],{},"roughly a\nhundred",[58,433,434],{},"nearly two hours",[117,436,437,422,440,264,443,264,446,296],{},[76,438,439],{},"After the number",[58,441,442],{},"twenty or so",[58,444,445],{},"an hour or so",[58,447,448],{},"a week or two",[117,450,451,422,454,457,458,461,462,465,466,296],{},[76,452,453],{},"On the number",[58,455,456],{},"thirty-odd people"," (only after round numbers; ",[58,459,460],{},"he is\nthirty-odd"," works, ",[58,463,464],{},"thirty-two-odd"," does not), ",[58,467,468],{},"seven-ish",[54,470,471,472,475,476,479,480,483,484,296],{},"You can hear the difference in commitment. ",[58,473,474],{},"The job takes three hours"," is a\npromise, and if it takes four the speaker was wrong. ",[58,477,478],{},"The job takes three\nhours or so"," survives contact with reality. Since most real quantities are\nonly roughly known, the hedged number is very often the honest one, which is\nworth remembering when vagueness gets called sloppy. Note also the pattern\n",[58,481,482],{},"or so"," follows quantity words only: time, money, people, distance. You\ncannot say ",[58,485,486],{},"it is blue or so",[66,488,490],{"id":489},"when-vagueness-is-politeness","When vagueness is politeness",[54,492,493],{},"The hedges earn their keep in three social situations, and in all three the\nprecise version is the worse English:",[54,495,496,93,499,502,503,506],{},[76,497,498],{},"Refusing.",[58,500,501],{},"I am a bit busy tonight"," is the standard soft no. The precise\nversion, ",[58,504,505],{},"I do not want to come",", is information nobody asked for. English\ndeclines invitations with hedges, and both sides understand the code.",[54,508,509,93,512,148,515,518,519,522],{},[76,510,511],{},"Criticising.",[58,513,514],{},"The report is sort of long",[58,516,517],{},"it is a bit slow in the\nmiddle"," deliver real criticism at survivable strength. A British manager who says\n",[58,520,521],{},"I have a few small concerns"," may be telling you the project is in serious\ntrouble; the hedge is the professional register, and taking it literally is a\ngenuine workplace risk for learners.",[54,524,525,93,528,531,532,535],{},[76,526,527],{},"Guessing numbers.",[58,529,530],{},"There were about fifty people there"," is honest;\n",[58,533,534],{},"there were fifty-two people there"," invites the question of how you know.\nHedged numbers signal a guess honestly given.",[54,537,538,539,542,543,546,547,550,551,264,554,557,558,561,562,566],{},"The flip side: vagueness where precision is expected reads as evasive. ",[58,540,541],{},"What\ntime does the flight leave?"," needs ",[58,544,545],{},"14:40",", not ",[58,548,549],{},"mid-afternoonish",". Forms,\ndirections, prices, train times and medicine take exact answers. The\nskill is not vagueness everywhere; it is matching the precision of the answer\nto the stakes of the question, which is exactly what native speakers do\nwithout thinking. For the modal end of not-committing (",[58,552,553],{},"might",[58,555,556],{},"could",",\n",[58,559,560],{},"I suppose","), see ",[270,563,565],{"href":564},"\u002Fenglish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fmodals-of-deduction","modals of deduction","\nand its cousins.",[66,568,570],{"id":569},"common-mistakes","Common mistakes",[54,572,573],{},"Ranked by how often learners actually make them.",[575,576,577,586,603,620,635],"ol",{},[117,578,579,93,582,585],{},[76,580,581],{},"Taking a bit literally.",[58,583,584],{},"A bit disappointing"," from a British speaker\nis not mild. Decode understatement upwards or you will miss real\ncriticism, real refusals and real warnings.",[117,587,588,93,591,594,595,598,599,602],{},[76,589,590],{},"Hedging formal writing.",[58,592,593],{},"The results were sort of surprising"," has no\nplace in an essay. Write ",[58,596,597],{},"somewhat surprising"," or commit to ",[58,600,601],{},"surprising",".\nHedges are register-bound, and the register is speech.",[117,604,605,93,608,611,612,615,616,619],{},[76,606,607],{},"Precision where English expects padding.",[58,609,610],{},"I will arrive at 7.15"," for a\ncasual dinner sounds like a train announcement. ",[58,613,614],{},"Sevenish"," or ",[58,617,618],{},"around\nseven"," is the native pattern for social time.",[117,621,622,93,625,628,629,631,632,296],{},[76,623,624],{},"Treating stuff as countable.",[58,626,627],{},"Stuffs"," does not exist. ",[58,630,356],{}," is\nuncountable, always singular: ",[58,633,634],{},"my stuff is in the car",[117,636,637,93,640,643],{},[76,638,639],{},"Stacking hedges until nothing is left.",[58,641,642],{},"It is sort of kind of a bit\nstrange-ish"," collapses under its own padding. One hedge per idea does the\nwork; two is already comedy.",[66,645,647],{"id":646},"practice","Practice",[54,649,650],{},"What does each speaker actually mean? Answers are below.",[575,652,653,658,663,668,673],{},[117,654,655],{},[58,656,657],{},"The soup was warmish.",[117,659,660],{},[58,661,662],{},"I sort of finished the report.",[117,664,665],{},[58,666,667],{},"It is a bit of a mess in here.",[117,669,670],{},[58,671,672],{},"There were thirty-odd people at the wedding.",[117,674,675],{},[58,676,677],{},"Do you like your new boss? - Ish.",[54,679,680,683],{},[76,681,682],{},"Answers:"," 1. the soup was not warm enough and they noticed 2. the report\nis not finished 3. the room is genuinely a mess 4. roughly thirty, probably a\nfew more 5. not really, and they do not want to say so out loud",[54,685,686,687,691,692,696,697,296],{},"Hedges are one half of how English takes the edge off what it says. The other\nhalf is the little steering words covered at\n",[270,688,690],{"href":689},"\u002Fenglish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fdiscourse-markers","discourse markers",", and the politeness\nmachinery runs on into ",[270,693,695],{"href":694},"\u002Fenglish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fquestion-tags","question tags"," and\n",[270,698,700],{"href":699},"\u002Fenglish\u002Fgrammar\u002Findirect-questions","indirect questions",{"title":702,"searchDepth":703,"depth":703,"links":704},"",2,[705,706,707,708,709,710,711,712,713],{"id":68,"depth":703,"text":69},{"id":108,"depth":703,"text":109},{"id":190,"depth":703,"text":191},{"id":277,"depth":703,"text":278},{"id":350,"depth":703,"text":351},{"id":410,"depth":703,"text":411},{"id":489,"depth":703,"text":490},{"id":569,"depth":703,"text":570},{"id":646,"depth":703,"text":647},"B1-B2","How English speakers avoid sounding too certain or too precise: sort of and kind of, the British a bit, the -ish ending, stuff and things, and about, around and or so with numbers - and when vagueness is politeness.",[717,736,755],{"type":718,"instructions":719,"options":720,"items":723},"which-one","Choose the hedge that fits the gap.",[139,223,278,482,721,722],"about","and stuff",[724,726,728,730,732,734],{"prompt":725,"answer":223},"The film was ___ boring, to be honest.",{"prompt":727,"answer":721},"There were ___ thirty people there.",{"prompt":729,"answer":482},"It will take an hour ___.",{"prompt":731,"answer":139},"I ___ expected this to happen.",{"prompt":733,"answer":278},"Come round at seven___, no need to be exact.",{"prompt":735,"answer":722},"We talked about work ___.",{"type":737,"instructions":738,"items":739},"fill-blank","Write the missing word in each hedge.",[740,743,745,748,751,753],{"prompt":741,"answer":742},"It is k___ of cold in here, is it not?","kind",{"prompt":744,"answer":277},"She is fifty___, maybe a little older.",{"prompt":746,"answer":747},"I will be there in twenty minutes or s___.","so",{"prompt":749,"answer":750},"That is a b___ expensive for a sandwich.","bit",{"prompt":752,"answer":721},"There were a___ a hundred emails waiting.",{"prompt":754,"answer":400},"Bring your swimming things and st___.",{"type":756,"instructions":757,"pairs":758},"match","Match each vague phrase to what the speaker really means.",[759,762,765,768,771,774],{"left":760,"right":761},"I sort of liked it","I liked it, with reservations",{"left":763,"right":764},"It is a bit disappointing","it is very disappointing",{"left":766,"right":767},"See you at eightish","around eight, do not be exact",{"left":769,"right":770},"Twenty people or so","about twenty people, no promise",{"left":772,"right":773},"We talked about things","the details do not matter here",{"left":775,"right":776},"Ish","yes, but only a little","md",[779,782,785,788],{"q":780,"a":781},"What does sort of mean in spoken English?","It weakens whatever it touches. I sort of agree means the speaker agrees partly, or agrees but does not want to commit loudly. It is kind of strange means it is strange, said carefully. Sort of and kind of mean the same thing; British speakers lean towards sort of, Americans towards kind of, and in fast speech they become sorta and kinda. As a one-word answer to a question, Sort of means yes, but it is complicated.",{"q":783,"a":784},"What does the -ish ending mean?","Roughly, approximately, more or less. Stick it on a time (eightish, see you at sevenish), an age (she is fiftyish), a colour (a greenish coat) or an adjective (the water was warmish) and you have made it vague on purpose. It is informal and spoken, and it can even stand alone as an answer: Are you hungry? Ish. Meaning: a little, not seriously.",{"q":786,"a":787},"Is it rude to say stuff and things in English?","Not rude, just informal. Stuff and things stand in for items or topics the speaker does not need to list: I left my stuff at the hotel, we talked about work and things. Phrases like and stuff like that or and things like that close a list early and trust the listener to fill in the rest. In an essay or a report you should name what you mean, but in conversation this is completely normal English, not lazy English.",{"q":789,"a":790},"How do English speakers make numbers vague?","Mostly with about, around and roughly before the number: about twenty people, around six o'clock. Or so goes after it: twenty people or so, an hour or so. The -odd ending does the same after round numbers: thirty-odd emails. English speakers routinely make numbers vaguer than they need to, because an exact number sounds like a promise, and it costs nothing to say about six instead.","english",{},true,"\u002Fenglish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fhedging-and-vague-language",{"title":48,"description":715},"english\u002Fgrammar\u002Fhedging-and-vague-language","P9awZhQzGYNnu9FOUpwHlQ8bfKm2-9tYlMS7Do0tAhY",{"left":4,"top":4,"width":5,"height":5,"rotate":4,"vFlip":6,"hFlip":6,"body":799},"\u003Cpath fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" stroke-width=\"2\" d=\"M13 21h8M15 5l4 4m2.174-2.188a1 1 0 0 0-3.986-3.987L3.842 16.174a2 2 0 0 0-.5.83l-1.321 4.352a.5.5 0 0 0 .623.622l4.353-1.32a2 2 0 0 0 .83-.497z\"\u002F>",{"left":4,"top":4,"width":5,"height":5,"rotate":4,"vFlip":6,"hFlip":6,"body":801},"\u003Cpath fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" stroke-width=\"2\" d=\"M11 4.702a.705.705 0 0 0-1.203-.498L6.413 7.587A1.4 1.4 0 0 1 5.416 8H3a1 1 0 0 0-1 1v6a1 1 0 0 0 1 1h2.416a1.4 1.4 0 0 1 .997.413l3.383 3.384A.705.705 0 0 0 11 19.298zM16 9a5 5 0 0 1 0 6m3.364 3.364a9 9 0 0 0 0-12.728\"\u002F>"]