Softening Language During Presentations

We use indirect language in English in many areas of business and for many different reasons: to be polite, diplomatic or formal, or to show respect and build business relationships. Indirect language tends to be soft, positive and friendly.

Sometimes when you are presenting you may need to reduce the significance of points which are not particularly relevant or important, or you may prefer not to stress certain information for some reason. You can use indirect language or ‘softening’ language in many of these cases, too.

Here’s how:

Example 1: Now, we’ve had a bit of trouble getting all our suppliers on board, but we tend to think all will be using our new system by the end of the year.

Example 2: I know it seems rather a long shot, but we may just have to try a different approach to get them to agree to the proposal at the next meeting.

Test yourself! Read the following sentences from various presentations and choose the most suitable softener(s).

1.

I think _______ our processes are _______ complicated.

 
 
 

2.

It’s _______ too soon to say whether we’ll get their business.

 
 
 

3.

It’s not _______ the type of modification you wanted, but it’s better than the competitor’s product.

 
 
 

4.

I am _______ pleased with the performance of our new product line, but we still have _______work to do.

 
 
 

5.

We’ve _______ completed our presentation to the board of directors of the First Bank of ABC.

 
 
 

6.

We _______we have_______ convinced them that we are the best company for all their insurance matters.

 
 
 

7.

_______they are_______ happy with the way the sale is going, and we are_______ that we can close the deal at the next meeting.

 
 
 

8.

We are_______ they are interested in the services we offer, although with executives it is _______difficult to tell_______.

 
 
 

9.

I’d say_______ we are_______ too sensitive about accepting criticism from our customers.

 
 
 

10.

We are _______ finished writing this letter to the customers.

 
 
 

11.

It’s _______ likely that they will approve one of our training courses for management and use another company for training line workers.

 
 
 

12.

An exclusive contract is _______ too much to hope for.

 
 
 

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We can soften the way we give information in a presentation by:

-Minimizing: just, only, a bit, a little, rather, fairly, just about, almost

-Expressing possibility: probably, maybe, possibly, might, may, or     perhaps

-Adding words such as appear, tend, or seem

-Showing reservation with all in all, to a certain extent, to some degree, in a way, some, somewhat

For more tips check out our blog:

 

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