By the time he began making music, hip-hop was primed for figures who softened standard perceptions of black masculinity.
The regulators had complained that it had provided misleading information about the methodology behind its ratings to the investors who use them and had softened standards to attract more business.
As deadlines approached for schools to start making passage of the exams a requirement for graduation, and practice tests indicated that large numbers of students would fail, many states softened standards, delayed the requirement or added alternative paths to a diploma.
I have learned this year to soften those standards and that you can never pass judgment on someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes.
In softening his standard schlemiel to make Ray more of a stumblebum than a whiner, Mr. Allen has come up with a new, likable variation on a familiar character.
The show's 19 paintings of shadowy figures predate her signature works, the arrangements of cloth and latex and wire that scrambled and softened the standard Minimalist vocabulary.
It agreed to the review only after the fund softened its standards for determining whether countries are manipulating their exchange rate to boost exports, in violation of I.M.F.
In Virginia, parents and teachers recently pressured the state into softening the standards needed to pass the tougher new tests, because even state officials conceded that they were so high that few students could meet them.
Banks with worse corporate governance problems soften even more the standards.
There is likely to be added pressure on Europe to soften its data protection standards at present — as part of behind-closed-doors negotiations on a proposed free trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
"The Voice," a bona fide hit, turned around a disastrous Monday night, though it softened after the standard singing began.
