【四兩撥千金的巧勁管理】之2：動詞與名詞

文/王妍筑、John Stephenson
企劃/英語島教學實驗室

當你想給出指令，又擔心對方拒絕
怎麼說比較恰當？

appear（顯得）, seem（似乎）, suggest（建議）, indicate（指出）, assume（以為）, estimate（預估）, argue（認為）, tend to（傾向）, guess（猜想）

這些都是可以拿來當做婉轉語氣的動詞，他們都表示「沒有百分百確定」，放在句子裡面，既不失禮，又不用說一個絕對的答案。

• It appears that the numbers this year are going to increase.
  今年的數字看起來是增加的。

• It seems that the difference between these two approaches are not so big.
  這兩個方法似乎沒有差別太大。

• Looking at the results for Q2, it suggests that we are going to have some good results in the second half of the year.
  從第二季度的結果看起來，我們下半年的成果也會很不錯。

• The fall in sales indicates that we are now looking at a saturated market. We might want to start thinking about developing some new products in the coming year.
  秋季的銷售量指出我們放眼在一個飽和的市場。我們或許會在來年開始發展一些新的商品。

• I assume that you will be able to hand this project in on time.
  我想你會準時繳交企劃案。

• She estimates that we are going to be able to increase profits this year, but I would argue that she is being a bit optimistic.
  她估計我們今年應該能夠增加利潤，但我會認為她有點太樂觀了。

• I guess it’s probably a good idea to organize a meeting to discuss this further.
  我想召開一個來延伸討論的想法可能會不錯。

「我不同意你，但我理解你這麽想的原因。」表達意見前，先給對方認同感，開啟一段有效的溝通。

• The assumption is that this would be a very good investment for our clients.
  假設這個對於我們的客戶是非常好的投資。

• I think that this idea has a lot of potential. It’s perhaps wise to investigate things a bit further.
  我認為這個想法很有潛力。繼續調查下去可能或許是明智的。

• My suggestion is that we do our very best to get all the paperwork submitted one week before the deadline to avoid any problems.
  我的建議是我們盡全力讓我們的報告在截止日前一周就繳交，以避免問題。

• The claim made by my manager that my work is not good enough is totally unfair.
  我的經理聲稱我的作品不夠好，對我是完全不公平的。

延伸閱讀：
複習一下第1點-->決定說話直接或婉轉的助動詞

本文收錄於英語島English Island 2017年3月號
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