Sound More POLITE and PROFESSIONAL in English | Hedging Language Explained Clearly with examples
English Speaking 360
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3vESZio_9A

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0:00 How to sound more polite in English with hedging language. Hello guys, my name is Josh and welcome to English speaking 360. Today we are dealing with hedging
0:12 language, but some people may call it softening language, cautious language, or polite language, but it's all the same. I have a story for you. A few
0:23 weeks ago, someone wrote this comment on my YouTube channel. There is a mistake. You are wrong. Well, needless to say, I wasn't too happy about getting that
0:36 message because it is a very, very strongly worded message. And also, there wasn't a mistake in my presentation. The guy was wrong. Now consider this. If the
0:50 person had written this, I think there might be a mistake. I'm not sure this is right. I would have been much happier getting that message.
1:02 So today I am showing you how to change your language to make it softer. What is hedging language? Hedging is using words that make your
1:14 ideas sound more careful or less direct. Why use it? To be polite or to be more professional. to avoid sounding too strong or rude and also to show that
1:29 you are not 100% sure. Hedging can be done with modal verbs. So modal verbs can definitely help soften your statements. For
1:41 example, might it might rain tomorrow instead of saying it will rain tomorrow. It might rain tomorrow shows that you are not 100% certain. May this may be a
1:56 mistake instead of saying this is a mistake. Could he could be the one who broke it. It's much softer than saying he is the one who broke it. Would I
2:10 would think this is enough. Much more polite. Should. This should be correct. This YouTube channel might very well be the best ever. So, don't forget
2:23 to subscribe. Might very well be is also a great sentence to soften what you want to say. Instead of saying this YouTube channel is the best ever, I said might
2:37 very well be. So, I'm being very professional and I'm not boasting too much. Hedging can also be done with adverbs. So careful adverbs can help
2:50 soften your language. Probably. It's probably the best option. Possibly. We're possibly looking at a delay. Generally, this generally works
3:04 well. Apparently, Apparently, she's moving next week. Likely. It's likely that he'll say yes. Hedging with phrases.
3:18 If you add soft phrases, it can help you sound a lot more polite. So, instead of saying, "They didn't fully understand the instructions," you can start with,
3:30 "It seems that they didn't fully understand the instructions." Much softer. There is a chance that the delivery will be late. The delivery will
3:40 be late is very strong. There is a chance that helps you soften your language. It is possible that the numbers were
3:49 entered incorrectly. You entered the numbers wrong. It's not very polite, but it is possible that the numbers were not entered properly is much
4:01 softer. As far as I know, the meeting is still scheduled for 300 p.m. As far as I know, to the best of my knowledge, she has already left the office. to the best
4:14 of my knowledge shows that you are not 100% sure. Hedging in questions. Hedging makes questions less
4:25 direct and a lot more polite. Here are some examples. Would you happen to have a pen I could borrow? Instead of saying, "Can
4:34 I borrow your pen?" or "Could I borrow your pen?" would you happen to have a pen I could borrow? Is much nicer. Could it be that we misunderstood
4:45 the instructions? Could it be that instead of we misunderstood? Could it be that? Is it possible that we misunderstood the
4:56 instructions? Do you think it might be better to wait instead of it might be better to wait or it's better to wait? That's the worstc case scenario. Do you
5:07 think it might be better to wait is wonderful. Is there a chance we made a mistake here? Is there a
5:15 chance? Would it be possible to reschedu the meeting instead of saying, "Can we reschedule the meeting?" or "Let's reschedule the meeting. It's a little
5:25 too strong. Would it be possible?" Wow, you have a lot more chances of the person saying, "Yes, we can reschedu the meeting." And one last example, I was
5:38 wondering if you could help me with this. I was wondering if is one of the best sentences to learn as an English student because it shows that you are
5:50 very very polite. Now, hedging by using positive language. Change negative words for positive ones. So, try not to use
6:02 negative words too much. For example, that's a bad idea. So you see here, bad idea is not good. So you might want to say that might not be the best
6:16 option. So you're changing bad idea for best option, but you're adding a not. That might not be the best option. It means your idea totally sucks. But I'm
6:29 very polite, so I'm saying it's not the best option. You're wrong. You may not be 100% right about
6:39 this. This is a problem. A problem is also a negative word. This could be a challenge. A challenge is something positive. Challenge
6:52 accepted. That's impossible. That might not be easy to achieve. You did it wrong. There may be a better way to do this.
7:03 Wow, that is so polite. And the last one, I disagree with you. Ah, I know that many of you use this sentence, right? I disagree with you is great
7:16 basic English, but disagree is very strong. I'm not so sure about that. I'm not sure that you're right about that. It's quiz time, guys. Now I'm going to
7:30 give you a rude sentence and you have to try to come up with possible alternatives. Okay? So the report is incorrect or very very strong. What
7:42 would you say instead? I'm going to give you more polite options so you can compare what you said to the options I have here and you can check and you can
7:53 see if your answer resembles one of mine. Some parts of the report may need revision. Oh, that's very nice. You're
8:03 not saying that the whole report is wrong. Some parts may need revision. So, you're using a modal verb also. It seems there might be a few
8:16 issues to fix. Aha. A few issues. Just a few. No problem there. Also, it seems. So, I'm not 100% sure. And once again, you're using a modal verb. There might
8:31 be a few issues to fix. There could be a few small errors in the report. There could be. I'm not sure. There could be. It's possible, but
8:44 just a few small errors. They are very, very small. It's not a big problem. So, how about your answer? Does your answer kind of match with what I said here? If
8:58 it does, fantastic. Here's another rude sentence. Change the schedule. Uh, you want the person to change the schedule, but just
9:08 saying change the schedule is very rude. So, what would you say instead? Here are some more polite options. Would it be possible to adjust the schedule? Would
9:20 it be possible to change the schedule, but instead of change, adjust is much softer? Also, I was wondering if we might revise the schedule. Revise. I was
9:33 wondering if Excellent sentence. We might. So, you're using a modal verb right there. It's wonderful. Could we maybe consider changing the schedule?
9:45 Could we maybe consider? So, you're being extremely polite. If you use this in a business setting, you're going to sound
9:56 wonderful. Here's another one. I don't like this plan. Your plan sucks. More polite options. I'm not completely sure about
10:06 this plan. Very nice. This might not be the best fit for us. I think we could explore other options. I think we could explore other options is something
10:19 people say usually when they hear a bad idea. How about this one? You made a mistake. More polite options. What would you say? I would say there may have been
10:34 a small misunderstanding. Oh, very nice. There may maybe yes, maybe not. 50% right. There may have been a small
10:43 misunderstanding. Not a big mistake. Not a big misunderstanding. Just a small one. It seems something might not be quite right. Aha. Not quite right. And
10:57 might also is your modal verb. And at the beginning on top of that, you're using it seems super
11:07 soft. I think there may be a slight error. How about this one? This product will fail. Give it a try. Ready? I'm going to show you mine. There's a
11:21 possibility this may not succeed. So succeed instead of failure. You're using a positive word. There's a possibility this may not
11:32 succeed. It could be challenging to get the results we want. It could be challenging. I'm not saying that we're going to fail, but it's not going to be
11:42 easy. it might not perform as expected. There's something you should keep in mind though. Today I'm teaching you
11:50 these sentences. Of course, you're going to say, "But this is very complicated, but like I said, if you use them, it's going to help you sound a lot more
12:00 professional and a lot more polite." Great job, guys. If you want extra practice, visit my website, englishspeaking
12:10 360.com. I hope to see you next time. And remember, don't send me rude messages.