Stacked hedges until the sentence dies
Caution is a single word. “May.” “Might.” “I am not sure.” Stacked hedges are something else: the model protecting itself from being wrong by never quite saying the thing.
Pattern 24 in REhume is excessive hedging. The skill example is almost a joke, and I still see versions of it in real drafts.
Before: It could potentially possibly be argued that the policy might have some effect on outcomes.
After: The policy may affect outcomes.
If even that is too strong, I write “I have not measured the effect.” That is a fact about my knowledge. It is not a pile of modal verbs.
Why models stack them
Training includes academic hedging and legal hedging, both of which can be justified in those genres. The same pattern dumped into a README makes the author sound like they have never run the program.
Chat products are also punished for overconfident wrongness. The safe completion is a fog. Fog is bad documentation.
One hedge is a tool
“May” is correct when the outcome is not determined. “Approximately” is correct when the figure is rounded. “In this sample” is correct when you have not done a census.
I keep those. I delete their cousins in the same sentence. “It may perhaps arguably” is one idea wearing three coats.
How I edit
I circle every qualifier: could, might, may, potentially, possibly, somewhat, relatively, fairly, it could be argued. If a sentence has more than one, I pick the weakest one that is still true and delete the rest.
If after that the sentence is still fog, the problem is missing data, not tone. I go find the number or I write that the number is missing.
REhume’s judgment pass can flatten a stack. It can also over-flatten and make you sound sure when you are not. I read the result. If I needed “may,” I put “may” back.
Neighbors
Hedging pairs with knowledge-cutoff disclaimers: “based on available information, it could potentially.” Cut both. Either you know or you do not.
It also pairs with generic conclusions. A foggy body plus a bright ending is a model that declined to think and then smiled.
Practice
Find a paragraph with three qualifiers. Rewrite it twice: once as a committed claim you could defend, once as a statement of ignorance. Pick the one you can stand behind. Do not publish the compromise that is both.
The pattern encyclopedia is the short rule. This page is the reading pass I do after the model “helps” me sound careful.