ABSTRACT
Polite words mostly consist of two types. One type refers to the sentence endings desu (with nouns and adjectives) and masu (with verbs). They show the psychological and social distance the speaker feels toward the person to whom he/she is speaking. No matter how close the relationship, however, he/she is expected to speak in the desu/masu style to his/her social superior. One would use desu/masu to one’s equal until one feels close to him/her.
