Meaning of “I would venture” [closed]

Question

On page 6 of The Remains of the Day, I read:

...my new employer in several other instances had had occasion to call upon such qualities as it may be my good fortune to possess and found them to be, I would venture, dependable.

This is a part of a sentence that I am having trouble with. Without the phrase "I would venture", I can understand this. I want to know how to comprehend this with the phrase.

Answer 1

"I would venture" means something like "I would like to suggest". You could even read it as "in my opinion".

Answer 2

I would venture as used in your quote indicates that the speaker is expressing (probably false) modesty.

Answer 3

This is a hedge. The person using it is not committing fully to what they are saying or trying not to disagree with someone else too strongly. It means I'd like to suggest this idea.

Answer 4

"... found them to be dependable" is speculation as to the opinion of another. It is a presumption, and is thus qualified by "I would venture". An alternative would be "I would dare say".

Note that the very next sentence is also a speculation, this time qualified by "I assume":

So it was, I assume, that he felt immediately able to talk to me in a businesslike and trusting way ...

The narrator is a butler whose job it is not to presume upon his employer, yet in order to tell this part of the story he must speculate on his employer's thoughts. No wonder qualifies what he says.

Answer 5

"I would venture" here is basically a more formal version of "I reckon". From Wiktionary:

To conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances; hence, to think; to suppose; -- followed by an objective clause;

...

I reckon he won't try that again.