if …

whether …

If …, then …

If this is the case, then …

This depends on …

…, depending on …

either … or …

neither … nor …

…, but …

However, …

… nor, however, …

Although …,

… rather …

rather than …

though

Unfortunately, …

At the same time, …

…, albeit

regardless of …

… not necessarily …

Nevertheless, …

In fact, …

In reality, …

Of course, …

Generally speaking, …

Broadly speaking, …

In large part, this is due to …

in many respects

In practice, …

In principle, …

Ideally, …

providing or provided that …

… with the proviso that …

a condition of …

… is a necessary condition for …

… is a prerequisite of …

… unless stated otherwise

in all probability

to all intents and purposes

frequently

on the whole

a wide range of …

a variety of …

by no means uncommon

in a broader sense

with one or two exceptions

… was confined to …

… are found predominantly in …

… is or are more likely to be

a number of …

some …

probably

in some cases

to some extent

at least to some extent

at least in part

partly …, and partly …

in some sense

It is possible that …

possibly

perhaps

under these circumstances

in this respect

in this case

specifically, …

Strictly speaking, …

only

relatively few cases of …

with minor exceptions

very few cases of …

solely

with little or no …

with the exception of …

a notable exception

a number of reservations

To my knowledge, …

There are, to our knowledge, no …

There are no objective grounds for …

It should be noted that …

It is worth bearing in mind that …

It is important to bear in mind that …

It should, nevertheless, be borne in mind that …

It is easy to underestimate the …

It is important not to ignore …

It is equally clear that …

While it may seem unlikely that …, it is important to remember that …

Although it may well be true that …, it is important not to overlook …

Although it may be the case that …, it is important to bear in mind …

Although it is generally accepted that …, …

without jumping to conclusions

However, this is not to say that …

…, though the fact that …

… should not be understood as …

… should not be underestimated

… cannot be ruled out

… does not necessarily imply that …

… can be better accounted for by or as …

…, though it must be emphasized US and GB or emphasised GB that …

While we are unable to guarantee …, we are able to state that …

Furthermore, it is by no means the case that …

Leaving aside where this is not the case etc., we can say that …

While the findings are promising, …

It is certainly possible that …

It is certainly true that …; however, …

While there is no question that …, …

While it may well be true that …, …

Up to a point, this may be true; however, …

While this may be true to some extent, …

While this may be valid in some cases, …

the figures, results etc. should be treated with caution

we should or must be cautious about generalizing US and GB or generalising GB …

there is more than one possible development, explanation etc.

Although this does not exclude the possibility that …, it does suggest that other factors may be relevant.

Similar results have been recorded elsewhere, albeit in a different context.

a balance must be drawn between …

it is a difference of degree, not of kind

… represents not so much …, but …

other contributory factors may also be relevant

This is due to a combination of factors rather than solely attributable to …

A widely held assumption is that …; however, …

However, it cannot be denied that …

This does not mean, however, that …

This does not necessarily mean …

The principles discussed here cannot, however, be taken as absolute.

The extent to which factors such as … are significant varies.

… is just one aspect of the problem

a number of limitations

not wholly accurate

It is impossible to …

It is not possible to …

It is debatable or questionable whether …

to what extent this is parallel to … is unclear

the extent to which this reflects … is unclear

On first glance this may appear promising, but …

… seems at first sight …; however, …

While superficially appealing, … does not stand up to closer scrutiny

closer examination reveals, however, …

The results should be treated with great caution

While promising, further work needs to be carried out before …

… needs to be more explicit

The limitations of … become evident if one considers …

… very little evidence for or of …

… would carry more weight if …

An alternative explanation is that …

It is not necessarily the case that …

… this is by no means always the case

It is by no means the case that …

It would be wrong to assume that …

It is unlikely that …

It is rarely the case that …

examples of … are rare

examples of … are few and far between

This process, type etc. is restricted to …

Of a total of …, only …

the exception rather than the rule

It remains to be seen whether …

Next: Section

Back