Hedging and impersonal constructions 146d
Propositions may be hedged by the use of impersonal it-constructions with passive
voice which enable the writer/speaker to avoid the more direct commitment to a
proposition which a first person I/we + active voice may create:
It is suggested that the analytic procedures illustrated in this paper be applied
to more widely-used oral testing instruments in order to evaluate their utility in
eliciting conversational interaction.
(compare the more direct and personal: I suggest that . . . )
Such impersonal it-constructions may also be used simply to hedge a proposition by
attributing it to other, unnamed experts:
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