Hopefully - I hate this word! It is overused in speech.
Hopefully the train will be on time. Why not say, "I hope the train will be on time."
Hopefully. On its own = I hope so.
hopefully has 2 meanings
1 in a hopeful manner eg It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.
2 it is to be hoped This is the controversial one. A lot of people, myself included, find this bad usage. It is accepted widely in informal chat but you should avoid it in any kind of formal writing.
Here are some recent examples gleaned from the BBC news site.
Norfolk / 5 January 2012
Tim Phillips, head teacher at Acle High, said the damage at the school would hopefully be repaired later so it could reopen on Friday.
Oxford/ 9 January 2012 "Hopefully in the future I can make amends” Antony Worrall Thompson
Suffolk/ 8 January 2012 "Hopefully, these signs will prompt motorists who see anything suspicious to get in touch immediately, after finding a safe place to stop and make a call to us."
On the northern bottlenose whale: They had their population significantly reduced by whaling, but are now a protected species and their numbers will hopefully recover.
Ho-hum! I think I am in a minority with this one.
Could use 'might' - these signs might prompt motorists?
ReplyDeleteYes, there is often no need to "hope" anything.
ReplyDeleteAWT could say, "I will try to make amends."
The whales' numbers should increase.