 Using expressions like “I think that A is B”, “Probably/Perhaps A is B”, or “A is quite B”, a speaker can mitigate their assertion that A is B. And using intensifiers like “I know that A is B”, “Surely A is B”, or “A is absolutely B”, the speaker can strengthen or boost their assertion that A is B. These expressions modulate the degree of the commitment engendered by the assertions in which they occur: they can be used to undertake more or less responsibility towards the content of the assertion, and more generally to modulate the force and of the resulting speech  act.[38]