hopefully

hopefully

1. This has been used since the 17c as a straightforward adverb of manner:

• As lovers do, as lovers will, they travelled hopefully to Paris —Maurice Gee, 1985

• Out on the corridor, Nurse Bodkin was hovering hopefully near a suspended piece of mistletoe —E. McGrath, 1990.

According to the evidence of the OED, the controversial use of hopefully as a sentence adverb sprang up, after an isolated use in 1932, in the 1960s, first in AmE and almost immediately in BrE:

• We asked her when she expected to move into her new apartment, and she answered, ‘Hopefully on Tuesday.’ —New Yorker, 1965

• I want a bigger range to choose from and hopefully this role will help me —S. Stone, 1989

• He is buried with his mammy and hopefully they are together —Sunday Mirror, 2007.

2. Like thankfully, hopefully stands apart from the routine sentence adverbs clearly, frankly, happily, luckily, normally, sadly, unfortunately, etc., because the rationale of its formation differs and it cannot be resolved grammatically into a phrase such as in a hopeful way or to a hopeful extent. The argument based on ambiguity, however, is less compelling; sentences of the type They are working hopefully towards a solution of the problem will normally be clear enough either from intonation (in speech) or from context. For more on this issue in its context, see sentence adverbs.

3. These meanings of hopefully and thankfully are well established and are here to stay but strong rearguard actions continue to be fought over them. Bear in mind that hopefully, in particular, can sound irritating.