I'm comfortable saying, "I hope I survive to 105" - it isn't likely, but hey, you never know.
The first just expresses a desire the second makes a hopeful prediction. The fact is that "I hope that" doesn't mean the same thing that "hopefully" does. People get so worked up about the word that they can't hear what it's really saying. That's what usage fetishism can drive you to - you cross out an adverb and replace it with a six-word impersonal passive construction, and you tell yourself you've improved your writing.īut the real problem with these objections is their tone-deafness. But neither does "It is to be hoped that," which is the phrase that critics like Wilson Follett offer as a "natural" substitute. Or people complain that "hopefully" doesn't specifically indicate who's doing the hoping. But floating modifiers are mother's milk to English grammar - nobody objects to using "sadly," "mercifully," "thankfully" or "frankly" in exactly the same way. Some critics object that it's a free-floating modifier (a Flying Dutchman adverb, James Kirkpatrick called it) that isn't attached to the verb of the sentence but rather describes the speaker's attitude.
For one thing, the word itself is so utterly inconsequential - is that the best you've got? And then there's no rational justification for condemning it. The fact is that "I hope that" doesn't mean the same thing that hopefully does.īut the fixation with "hopefully" is different from those others.
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