- Hedging is used to express uncertainty or doubt. For example, the sentence “I might possibly go to the party” uses the modal verb “might” and the modal adverb “possibly” to hedge the speaker’s commitment to going to the party. The speaker is not sure if they will go to the party, but they are open to the possibility.
- Emphasis is used to express strong belief or conviction. For example, the sentence “I must definitely go to the party” uses the modal verb “must” and the modal adverb “definitely” to emphasize the speaker’s belief that they have to go to the party. The speaker is very sure that they will go to the party.
B1 Point 57 in the English Grammar Profile, in the category of MODALITY/adverbs, is defined as:
modal verb + modal adverb to modify an assertion, either through hedging or emphasis.
B1 point 81 in modality/adverbs is defined as:
increasing range of adverbs, for emphasis
However, when we check the EGP examples for point 57 which include: surely|certainly|probably, we soon see that this point clashes with B2 and C1 for ‘probably’ and ‘surely’. Only the use of ‘certainly’ does not clash when used with any modal verb except ‘can’.
Point 81 examples include ‘certainly|obviously|definitely’. However, there is an A2 grammar point that clashes for definitely and probably.
A search code for iWeb corpus:
_VM surely|certainly|probably _V*I
1 WILL PROBABLY BE 60697
2 WOULD PROBABLY BE 47350
3 WILL PROBABLY HAVE 16314
4 WILL CERTAINLY BE 15649
This book will certainly be of great use to them.
5 WOULD PROBABLY HAVE 14350
6 ‘LL PROBABLY BE 12091
7 WOULD CERTAINLY BE 10493
That would certainly be in line with my findings.
8 WILL SURELY BE 10382
9 SHOULD PROBABLY BE 8813
10 WILL PROBABLY NEED 8448
11 WILL PROBABLY GET 7372
12 ‘LL PROBABLY HAVE 7208
13 WILL PROBABLY WANT 6433
14 CAN CERTAINLY BE 6256
15 ‘D PROBABLY BE 5892
16 ‘LL PROBABLY WANT 5523
17 WILL PROBABLY TAKE 5325
18 WILL PROBABLY FIND 4952
19 ‘LL PROBABLY GET 4394
20 CAN PROBABLY GET 4366
21 WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE 3998
22 COULD PROBABLY BE 3967
23 ‘LL PROBABLY NEED 3898
24 WILL PROBABLY GO 3838
25 COULD PROBABLY GET 3802
26 WOULD SURELY BE 3728
27 ‘LL PROBABLY FIND 3639
28 CAN PROBABLY BE 3572
29 WILL CERTAINLY HELP 3565
30 WILL PROBABLY END 3518
31 WILL PROBABLY DO 3419
32 WILL PROBABLY MAKE 3412
33 ‘D PROBABLY HAVE 3221
34 CAN PROBABLY FIND 3089
35 COULD PROBABLY DO 2988
36 CAN PROBABLY GUESS 2957 (B2)
You can probably guess where this is going, right?
37 CAN PROBABLY TELL 2933
38 WOULD PROBABLY MAKE 2917
39 WOULD PROBABLY WORK 2854
40 WOULD PROBABLY DO 2821
41 WOULD PROBABLY TAKE 2760
42 WOULD PROBABLY GET 2741
43 WOULD SURELY HAVE 2698
44 WOULD CERTAINLY RECOMMEND 2687
45 WILL PROBABLY SEE 2675
46 WOULD PROBABLY GO 2648
47 WILL CERTAINLY HAVE 2538
48 WILL PROBABLY COME 2511
49 MUST SURELY BE 2483
50 COULD CERTAINLY BE 2459
51 WILL SURELY MAKE 2324
52 WOULD PROBABLY NEED 2291
53 CAN CERTAINLY HELP 2210
54 WOULD PROBABLY SAY 2209
55 WILL CERTAINLY MAKE 2197
56 WILL PROBABLY WORK 2178
57 COULD PROBABLY USE 2145
58 SHOULD PROBABLY HAVE 2117
59 ‘LL PROBABLY END 2115
60 CAN CERTAINLY SEE 2027
61 WILL PROBABLY USE 1993
62 SHOULD CERTAINLY BE 1968
63 WOULD PROBABLY WANT 1917
64 CAN PROBABLY DO 1916
65 WILL PROBABLY CONTINUE 1912
66 WILL SURELY HELP 1896
67 ‘LL PROBABLY SEE 1853
68 WILL SURELY HAVE 1713
69 COULD PROBABLY MAKE 1695
70 SHOULD PROBABLY GET 1665
71 CAN CERTAINLY MAKE 1656
72 ‘LL CERTAINLY BE 1652
73 WILL PROBABLY START 1649
74 ‘LL PROBABLY GO 1586
75 ‘LL PROBABLY DO 1583
76 WILL PROBABLY LOOK 1573
77 WILL PROBABLY GIVE 1570
78 COULD PROBABLY HAVE 1555
79 WILL PROBABLY TRY 1527
80 WOULD CERTAINLY MAKE 1507
81 CAN CERTAINLY DO 1493
82 CAN CERTAINLY USE 1492
83 SHOULD PROBABLY GO 1464
84 WOULD PROBABLY USE 1393
85 WOULD CERTAINLY HELP 1390
86 WILL SURELY GET 1358
87 ‘D PROBABLY GO 1343
88 CAN PROBABLY SEE 1338
89 COULD PROBABLY FIND 1313
90 WILL PROBABLY REQUIRE 1310
91 ‘D PROBABLY GET 1301
92 WILL CERTAINLY GET 1299
93 WOULD PROBABLY LOOK 1271
94 WOULD PROBABLY HELP 1262
95 ‘D PROBABLY WANT 1258
96 WILL SURELY COME 1255
97 WILL SURELY FIND 1240
98 CAN CERTAINLY UNDERSTAND 1220
99 WILL PROBABLY FEEL 1206
100 WILL PROBABLY CHANGE 1184
A2 vocabulary:
certainly, could, guess, must, probably, should, try
*Note that ‘surely’ is listed as B2 vocabulary.
More examples:
This book will surely be of help to both insiders and outsiders to gain knowledge of the language.
If a professor catches you cheating, they will certainly give you a failing grade.
_VM obviously|definitely _VVI
1 WOULD DEFINITELY RECOMMEND 24646
I would definitely recommend it.
2 WILL DEFINITELY USE 7001
3 WILL DEFINITELY HELP 4976
4 WILL DEFINITELY MAKE 4821
5 WOULD DEFINITELY USE 4480
6 CAN DEFINITELY SEE 4360
7 WILL DEFINITELY GET 3506
8 WILL DEFINITELY RECOMMEND 3492
9 WILL DEFINITELY TRY 2904
10 WILL DEFINITELY WANT 2765