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Politeness: softening expressions

quite, maybe, I think, etc​

We can express our opinions and intentions less directly (and therefore more politely) by using softening expressions like quite, rather, kind of, a bit, maybe, seem, at all (see here).

  • He’s quite difficult to understand, isn’t he?
  • I find her rather bossy, don’t you?
  • The food’s a bit expensive.
  • This music’s kind of boring.
  • Maybe I’ll go for a walk now.
  • They don’t seem very friendly.
  • Will you be seeing Denise at all?
note

For more examples, (see here).

I think I’ll …​

We can say that we are thinking of doing things, instead of expressing our intentions directly.

  • I think I’ll go to bed in a few minutes.
  • I’m thinking of going to London tomorrow.
  • I’d quite like to start thinking about going home.

We would like to …​

In a formal style, requests, invitations, suggestions, etc are often introduced by would like instead of being expressed directly.

  • We would like to invite you to give a talk to our members on June 14th.
  • I’d like to suggest that we take a vote.
  • I would like to congratulate you on your examination results.