Asking for and Expressing opinions

How often have you been in a situation where someone asks, "What do you think of ...?" The person expects you to express an opinion or something. In the case of our personal and professional lives in discussion with our friends, colleagues or classmates, we need to find out what another person thinks about a variety of topics of everyday interest, for example, the weather, world events, a recent film, a new product and so on. The most common expression we use is "What do you think of ... ?" or "How do you feel about ... ?" When it comes to giving opinions, we often say,"I think ... " or "I don't think ... " But the British like to use "It seems to me ... " as an indirect way of offering an opinion. The British tend not to disagree very abruptly with each other's opinion as it can cause offence. For this reason, if you don't agree, you should say," Well, it's not too bad." or "Well, I'm afraid I don't really."