Ask the following questions: Why do they sound so sure?

He did not sound too sure about that last point.

But he also sounds less sure of himself than ever.

"This is about something else," she says, trying to sound sure of herself.

But even to his own ears he didn't sound so sure.

In spite of these words, she did not sound at all sure.

He sounded so sure, and yet she knew this wasn't going to be easy.

But he didn't sound at all sure, and his voice was shaken.

He sounded too sure, yet I had no better reason or direction in which to look.

The trouble with being a parent, he thought, was that you were supposed to sound sure of everything.