As if Jessica Alba doesn’t naturally command attention, she’s making radical ads designed to turn heads and spur votes - in the presidential campaign, that is. “If you don’t register and vote and make a difference and hopefully change the bad things that are happening in our country, you are essentially just binding and muzzling yourself,” Alba said.

This is a common mistake, so we’ll forgive the new mom. But if you don’t learn the subtleties of words, you are also muzzling yourself - or at least diminishing your ability to communicate and affect change.

Hopefully is widely overused. It means in a hopeful manner or filled with hope. A candidate who is optimistic he will win awaits election results hopefully.

Otherwise, when you’re using hope as a loose synonym for desire, use a form of to hope paired with that. Alba hopes that you’ll register. She hopes that voters will “change the bad things that are happening in our country.” (Such a scorching assessment of the state of the nation!)

And we hope that you’ll heed this distinction.