> >Sure it could. There is clearly a linguistic niche for a gerundive
> >meaning "it is to be hoped".
>
> Why? That is, what does "it is to be hoped" mean? It is to be hoped by
> *whom*? By persons unknown? Why say that? By you? Then say, "I
> hope." By me? Then say, "You should hope." By all right-thinking
> people? Then say that. Why this insistence on vagueness?
Here's what the online Merriam-Websters has to say:
Main Entry: hope·ful·ly
Pronunciation: 'hOp-f&-lE
Function: adverb
Date: circa 1639
1 : in a hopeful manner
2 : it is hoped : I hope : we hope
Usage: In the early 1960s the second sense of hopefully, which had
been in sporadic use since around 1932, underwent a surge of
popular use. A surge of popular criticism followed in reaction, but the
criticism took no account of the grammar of adverbs. Hopefully in its
second sense is a member of a class of adverbs known as disjuncts.
Disjuncts serve as a means by which the author or speaker can
comment directly to the reader or hearer usually on the content of
the sentence to which they are attached. Many other adverbs (as
interestingly, frankly, clearly, luckily, unfortunately) are similarly
used; most are so ordinary as to excite no comment or interest
whatsoever. The second sense of hopefully is entirely standard.
Personaly, whenever I learn about a words "proper" usage, I
prefer to use it as such. It's one of the reasons I've
grown more interested in language and the words we use, where
they came from, and what they mean, used to mean, and "should"
mean. Yes, over time words change their meaning as people
bastardize them (harsh word, I know:) But I tend to enjoy
older works because of the language used. Hence my total
enjoyment of authors like Milton, Poe, Lovecraft, and others.
The timelessness of their writing is meaningful to me. Not
only that, but they teach, by their word usage, a more complete
understanding of the language.
When a writer can mix the old with the new (eg: Brust, Zelazny,
Thomas Ligotti, Neil Gaiman) I find it even more interesting.
They've combined older usage with a more modern understanding
of the overall language used. It's quite... engaging...
Procrastinating work,
Chris
"So farewell hope, and with hope, farewell fear,
Farewell remorse! All good to me is lost;
Evil, be thou my Good"
- John Milton - 'Paradise Lost'