Objections to this usage are based on the assumption that hopefully is and can only be an adverbial adjunct of manner. In ‘The Cambridge Guide to English Usage’, Pam Peters suggests that: I don’t suppose many who obect to this use of hopefully do so on the grounds that it lacks the potential for paraphrase on the lines of other sentence adverbs. Nevertheless, it is clear that use of hopefully has become a shibboleth of ‘correctness’ in the language – even if the arguments on which this is based are not particularly strong – and it is wise to be aware of this in formal contexts. Part of the reason is that hopefully is a rather odd sentence adverb: while many others, such as sadly, regrettably and clearly, may be paraphrased as ‘it is sad / regrettable / clear that. This second use is now very much commoner than the first use, but it is still believed by some people to be incorrect. The OED’s contemporary cousin, Oxford Dictionaries Online, has this fuller explanation of what it is now the word’s most frequent use, but adds a note of caution: The OED comments that it is of US origin and that it is ‘avoided by many writers’ (but doesn’t say that it should be avoided). The second definition is ‘It is hoped (that) let us hope.’ The earliest citation in this second sense is from 1932.
The OED’s first definition of hopefully is ‘In a hopeful manner with a feeling of hope with ground for hope, promisingly’, and the earliest citation is from the seventeenth century.
MEANING OF HOPEFULLY SERIES
This post is one in a series about The Negative Canon.
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