1178. Do you cringe when someone says "Hopefully, he'll pass the test"? This week, we look at why "hopefully" as a sentence adverb has been controversial for decades, even though the Associated Press accepted it in 2012, and it's been common since the 1930s. Then, we look at xenolinguistics — the study of alien languages — asking what human languages have in common and why (and how) alien languages might be completely different.

The xenolinguistics segment was by Natalie Schilling.

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Should you start a sentence with 'hopefully'? Why we might not recognize alien language.

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers.

Should you start a sentence with 'hopefully'? Why we might not recognize alien language.