We have seen how to emphasize points but sometimes you want to soften the impact of what you are saying and give them less importance. Here are some ways to do that:
Compare:
We made a huge loss.
We made a loss.
We made a slight loss.
We made a loss.
We made a slight loss.
The situation has improved enormously.
The situation has improved.
The situation has improved slightly.
The situation has improved.
The situation has improved slightly.
It is always incredibly difficult to …
It is difficult to …
It is sometimes a little difficult to …
It is difficult to …
It is sometimes a little difficult to …
We can soften the impact of negative ideas by responding using a positive word with a negative form of the verb. For example, compare:
The results are disappointing.
The results certainly aren't very encouraging, I'm afraid.
The results certainly aren't very encouraging, I'm afraid.
