Matching Pairs Direct and Hedging languageOnline version Match the direct phrase with its more polite equivalent. by Frankie Kemp 1 You've misunderstood. 2 Do this right now. 3 As I told you.... 4 You got it completely wrong. 5 How did you come up with that amount? 6 You didn't tell me about this change. How was I supposed to know? 7 The client will think you're... 8 Why did you do this? What was the rationale behind that decision? I think there's been a misunderstanding. Following my email (below) Maybe I didn't make myself clear. We'll need to revisit the costings This may be perceived as... May I request you do this now? I don’t recall any mention of this. May I suggest we get together to sort out how we’re going to deal with this?