This book is an adaptation of my PhD dissertation， written in
City University of Hong Kong. Many people have given me generous
help during my writing and revising of the book. I thank them
all.
First and utmost， I am greatly indebted to my PhD supervisor and
mentor Dr. Kenneth R. Rose. Ken ushered me to the exciting field of
inter language pragmatics， taught me research methods for inter
language development， encouraged me to explore the pragmatic
frontier of hedging development， and guided me through every step
of my research and academic writing. His constructive suggestions
and comments are invaluable for the research design， data
collection and analysis， writing up and revising the drafts of this
book. I'm most grateful to his kindness， encouragement， expertise，
patience， and unfailing support.