On Fri, 16 Aug 2002, Casey Rousseau wrote: #Chris Olson quoted an example from Line by Line: #> 'The candidates are hopefully awaiting the election results,' # #I would say that contrary to the statement from the text, this is exactly #the sort of usage that has been made vague by the additional meaning of #hopefully. Either meaning works in this sentence, especially when spoken. # #The candidates are (hopefully) awaiting the election results. (as opposed to #some other, less useful activity) #The candidates are hopefully awaiting the election results. (in anticipation #of their hoped-for results) Yes, this one is ambiguous. It could have been disambiguated (ugly, ugly word, but too useful for a linguist to throw away) with little change: 1. Hopefully, the candidates are awaiting the election results. (sentence adverb) 2. The candidates are awaiting the election results hopefully. (simple adverb) Yes, #1 *can* be read as a simple adverb, but this construction -- sentence-initial, separated by a pause (comma) -- is the most typical one for the sentence adverb and should be considered a signal of it. -- Mark A. Mandel