![]() ![]() White in his revision to The Elements of Style (“Do not dress up words by adding ly to them, as though putting a hat on a horse”). The lynch mob included such revered figures as Ted Bernstein in The Careful Writer (“What is needed is a word like hopably, which is not here being nominated for the job”) and E.B. They continued to insist that “hopefully” could be used only as a plain-vanilla “ly” adverb, modifying “hopeful” the way “slowly” means “in a slow manner.” That usage became popular in the ’60s, only to be decried by traditionalists who “hoped” that they could stem the tide by teaching a couple of generations that sentence adverbs in general were bad, and “hopefully” was the worst of the lot. It modifies the sentence “Americans have been watching …” to mean “ It is hoped that Americans have been watching …” When “hopefully” is used to mean “I really hope so,” it is functioning as a sentence adverb or “disjunct,” which adds the writer’s opinion to the statement in the sentence. #Most hopefully meaning serial#“Hopefully” spurs discussions that, like those about the serial comma, can quickly degenerate into shouting matches. Those Americans who were taught English and grammar between the 1960s and 1980s have probably been watching “in a hopeful manner.” Those who were taught at other times have probably been thinking that “it is hoped” others were watching. ![]() “Hopefully,” Americans have been watching the first overseas visit of President Barack Obama. ![]()
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