Geoff Nunberg on "hopefully".

Good article. Well-written. Amusing. Just plain dumb wrong.

Thanks, Pedro. Interesting.

Although I use it in informal writing as when writing in this forum to friendlies, I wouldn't use it in formal writing. No, definitely not.

But this generation too shall pass. Hopefully not soon.

The only reason to avoid it is that people like Brian and Janice object to it. For similar reasons, I try to avoid splitting my infinitives. After all, whoever is "right" about the proper usage, no one ever objects to a failure to split an infinitive, so one might as well toe the senseless line and not split the damn things. And by the same token, no one was ever smugly derided for not using "hopefully" in the manner under discussion. So it's the safe thing to do.

But I still haven't heard anyone explain why "hopefully" should be any more objectionable than "happily." The unspoken but clearly understood words "I say" precede each term, as well as many other adverbs, yet it's only "hopefully" that seems to have earned widespread condemnation.

ya boo
 

I cannot believe that (e.g.) 'boldly to go' or 'to go boldly' would be any improvement on 'to boldly go' & in any case how can you 'split' a particle phrase that consists of 2 separate words? No one would complain about 'by boldly going'. I'll take the 'short infinitive' any day. And in a hopeful frame of mind, too.

Roger, I agree that it's tricky to explain, but I think it is connected to the way in which the adjective that forms the adverb can be used. We can (but don't ask me why) say "a happy event", but we can't say "a regretful event" - it would have to be "a regrettable event". In the same way, I don't think we could say "a hopeful event", but unfortunately the word "hopeable" doen't exist, so we would have to say something like "a hoped-for event", although it's hard to see how that could be made into an adverb.

But I remain convinced that if the English Language, and the whole of English Literature, didn't feel the need to misuse this word until the last few decades, then it is simply slipshod usage rather than an indispensable modification of the language. After all, new words can always be invented as required; there is no need to blur the meaning of existing ones.

And in my acceptance of your kind invitation to dinner, I defy you to state with certainty in which sense the word "hopefully" is used.

Basil, your example of a split infinitive is unfair: there are clearly some phrases, however grammatically objectionable we may find them, that are sacrosanct!