Ways　of　showing　commitment　 

Use　first　person　pronoun　as　subject:　 
I,　We 

Use　verbs　with　first　person　subject:　 
advocate,　believe,　feel,　know,　mean,　think,　understand 

Use　personalized　expressions:　 
it　seems　to　me,　it　appears,　from　my　point　of　view,　in　my　view,　in　my　opinion 

Use　attitudinal　signals　such　as:　 
assuredly,　certainly,　definitely,　indisputably,　undeniably,　undoubtedly,　unquestionably　 

clearly,　obviously,　plainly　 

fortunately,　unfortunately,　unhappily　 

significantly　 

rightly,　wrongly 

Use　verbs　like　should,　must,　ought　to　 
Ways　of　'hedging'　or　avoiding　commitment　 
Avoid　using　first　person　pronouns　 
Use　impersonal　subjects,　such　as　it　 
Use　passive　voice　so　as　to　avoid　specifying　an　agent　or　'doer'　such　as:　 
It　can　be　imagined　that　...　 
Large　numbers　of　foreign　students　have　been　admitted　... 

Use　verbs　(often　with　an　impersonal　subject)　such　as:　 
hear,　guess,　imagine,　suggest,　suppose 
signals　such　as:　 
apparently,　arguably,　hypothetically,　ideally,　possibly,　seemingly,　superficially　hopefully,　strangely,　unexpectedly,　regrettably 
Use　verbs　such　as:　 
could,　would,　may,　might 

MARKERS OF COMPARISON AND CONTRAST 
Comparison within sentences 
  X is 
X and Y are  
X is  very 
quite 
rather  like Y 
similar 
similar to Y in terms of 
with respect to  
with regard to  quality/size/ 
expense etc. 
X resembles Y in that they are both large/expensive etc. 
X is 
  
  
 
 exactly 
precisely 
just 
virtually 
almost 
nearly the same as Y. 
  
 
 
Both X and Y are large/expensive etc. 
X is as large as Y. 
X is no larger than Y. 
X is the same size as Y. 
X is costly to buy and  it is (also) costly to maintain. 

Comparison between sentences 
  X is expensive to buy. 
  
 
 Similarly, 
Likewise, 
Moreover, 
Furthermore, 
In addition,  it is expensive to maintain/operate etc.