直接缓和语意在表示该话题观点是说话者的个人观点,或者该信息是建立在说话者的主观推断上而非客观依据上。往往用第一人称I,We,我,我们表示。常用的此类模糊限制语有:I think、I guess、as far as I know,据我所知,我们认为,我们相信等。例如:
[1]Celtic have reached the last-16 for the second successive season and manager Gordon Strachan said:“We must be pleased to get out of that group,I think that could have been the hardest 0f the groups,”
——“Inzaghi fails to stop Celtic glee”,CNN,Dec 4th,2007
[2]By around 2030,according to some believers inMoore's Law,there will be computers more powerful thanthe human brain,leading to the emergence of super-intelligent“post-humans,”
——“In the Future,Smart People Will Let Cars TakeControl”,New York Times,Dec 4th,2007
在本文中,我们读到:For Josiah Henson has lived on through the character in American fiction that he helped inspire……乔塞亚,亨森至今为人所知是由于他是美国小说中一位著名人物——汤姆叔叔,即哈丽特·比彻,斯托所著《汤姆叔叔的小屋》中那个长期逆来顺受的奴隶的创作原型。具有讽刺意味的是,那个人物一点儿也不像亨森。不愿意觉醒的种族背叛者?卡特对这种看法感到很气愤:“乔塞亚,亨森是个有原则的人。”她肯定地说。