Hedging & Politeness
Build your vocabulary with practical examples
Softening Opinions
I would tend to think
/aɪ wʊd tend tə θɪŋk/
I would tend to think the answer lies elsewhere.
It might be argued
/ɪt maɪt biː ˈɑːrɡjuːd/
It might be argued that the data is incomplete.
It seems to me
/ɪt siːmz tə miː/
It seems to me that we need more time.
I'm inclined to believe
/aɪm ɪnˈklaɪnd tə bɪˈliːv/
I'm inclined to believe she's right.
Polite Disagreement
I'm afraid I don't quite
/aɪm əˈfreɪd aɪ doʊnt kwaɪt/
I'm afraid I don't quite see it that way.
I see your point but
/aɪ siː jɔːr pɔɪnt bʌt/
I see your point, but I'd argue the opposite.
with respect
/wɪð rɪˈspekt/
With respect, I think there's another factor.
Strategic Vagueness
kind of
/kaɪnd əv/
It's kind of complicated to explain.
sort of
/sɔːrt əv/
I'm sort of unsure about this decision.
more or less
/mɔːr ɔːr les/
The project is more or less finished.
to some extent
/tə sʌm ɪkˈstent/
I agree to some extent.
Highly Polite Requests
I was wondering if
/aɪ wəz ˈwʌndərɪŋ ɪf/
I was wondering if you could help me with this.
Would you mind
/wʊd juː maɪnd/
Would you mind closing the door?
If it's not too much trouble
/ɪf ɪts nɒt tuː mʌtʃ ˈtrʌbəl/
If it's not too much trouble, could you call back?