It Seems That…: Hedging in Academic Writing

About This Resource

A complete Grade 10 ESL writing pack on hedging, the careful language writers use to avoid overstating claims. Students compare a strong and a hedged paragraph, learn modal verbs (may, might, could), tentative verbs (suggest, appear, seem), adverbs (possibly, generally, likely) and quantity hedges (some, many, in most cases), rewrite overgeneralizations and hedge claims in their own essays. Includes slides, a lesson plan, worksheet, quiz, homework, flashcards, a rubric and answer keys.

Overview

In academic writing, a claim that is too strong (Every study proves…, Social media makes teenagers unhappy) is easy to challenge. Good writers hedge: they show how certain they are and limit their claims to what the evidence supports. Students compare two versions of a paragraph about social media and well-being, identify hedging language, and learn five tools: modal verbs (may, might, could), tentative verbs (suggest, appear, seem, tend to), adverbs and adjectives (possibly, probably, likely), quantity words (some, many, most, in some cases) and introductory phrases (It could be argued that…, There is some evidence that…). They rewrite overgeneralizations, decide when hedging is needed and when a fact can be stated directly, and use hedges in their own argument.

Resource Details

Subject: ESL
Topic: Hedging in Academic Writing
Category: Writing
File Type: PDF
File Size: 327 KB
Published: 13 Nov 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 10 ESL (ages 15–16), B2 55 minutes Academic writing critical thinking modal verbs evaluating claims

Learning Objectives

Explain why writers use hedging in academic writing.
Use modal verbs, tentative verbs, adverbs and quantity words to hedge claims.
Rewrite overgeneralized claims so they match the evidence.

How to Use This Resource

Show the slides: All teenagers love sports. Ask: "Is this true? How could you make it more accurate?"
Read the two versions of the paragraph and do worksheet activities 1 and 2 together.
Students complete activities 3 to 6, then use the quiz and send the homework page home.

Classroom Activity Ideas

Certainty line: students place sentences on a line from certain to possible.
Hedge hunt: students find hedging language in a science article or textbook.
Too strong, too weak: groups rewrite claims that are overgeneralized and claims that are so hedged they say nothing.

Differentiation

Support: give a hedging phrase bank sorted into five groups and sentence frames. Challenge: students analyze a newspaper opinion piece and an academic abstract and compare how much they hedge.

Assessment

Use the worksheet and quiz to check identification and use of hedges. Use the rubric to assess the homework paragraph.

Teacher Tips

Hedging is about accuracy, not weakness. Too much hedging (It might possibly perhaps be…) makes writing unclear, so aim for one hedge per claim. Facts that are well established, such as Water boils at 100 °C at sea level, do not need hedging.

What's Included

10-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
Key vocabulary list (8 words with meanings and examples)
Student worksheet (6 activities)
Quiz / assessment (3 parts)
Homework practice page
Printable flashcards: 8 A5 picture cards (separate PDF)
Assessment rubric (4 levels)
Lesson slides (editable PowerPoint)
Editable Word version of all student pages
Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)

Additional Files

Lesson Slides (PPTX)
Editable Student Pages and Lesson Plan (DOCX)
A5 Flashcards (PDF)
Answer Key (PDF)

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