The text describes possible future developments in television. The writer is confident about some developments and less confident about others. What difference can you see between these statements?
1 By the turn of the century such sets may be offering programmes in a choice of languages.
2 Picture quality will be excellent.
3 The move towards HDTV is likely to be very gradual.
We cannot measure certainty in language with precision, but the following table provides a guide to how certain a writer is about a future development.
Certainty (%) Verb Adjective Adverb
100 will certain certainly
85 likely unlikely
75 probable, improbable probably
50 could/may possible possibly