Subjects

Qualifying your statements
If you qualify your statement, you add some information, evidence, or phrase in order to make it less strong or less generalized (recommended). It is not good practice to produce lots of strong (or categorical) statements. These are statements which you appear to support 100%. If for example you say 'It is undeniable that...', you are making a categorical statement (not recommended).

You might think that by making strong statements you sound confident. Nothing could be further from the truth. Your reader will probably think you lack wisdom. So... It is far better to write in a cautious style and not to commit yourself absolutely to generalizations. This an area where many second language writers are particularly weak.

Anyone looking at the data would have to agree that lean production is a technique that is exportable across borders. But there might be important cultural factors that could limit its success in certain countries.

Up to a point we can agree with Blair when he argues that nationalization is an ineffective way to organize industry. However the track record of some newly privatised industries suggests that....

In effect the results show that further research is necessary before we can reach any firm conclusions in this area.
Despite this month's unemployment figures, we can be more or less certain that the economic downturn has completed its cycle.

So to speak	Almost
To all intents and purposes	In a way
To some extent	In effect
Up to a point	More or less
It is no exaggeration to say that	Practically