Greeting People and Responding
Date: 2015-10-07; view: 459.
| Greetings | Responses | ||
| Formal | |||
| – – – | How do you do, Mr. Brown. Good morning, Dr. Sampson. How are you? Good evening, sir (madam). | – – – | How do you do, Mr. White. Good morning. I'm fine, thank you. And how are you? Good evening. |
| Neutral | |||
| – – | Hello, Paul. How are you doing? Hello. It's a nice evening, isn't it? | – – | Hello, Ted. I'm doing well, thank you. Fine, how are you? (What about you?) |
| Informal | |||
| – – – – | Morning, Jean. Are you doing okay? Hi, Freddie. What are you up to these days? Hey, Jack. How's it going? Cheerio! | – – – – – – | Not bad. You? Great, thanks. What about you? Couldn't be better! Yourself? Can't complain. How about you? Fantastic! Lousy! |
Most greetings and responses are rather automatic and mechanical. When someone says "Hi! How are you doing?" the greeting sounds expected. It doesn't convey a genuine interest in knowing the person's state of health or being. And just as the greeting may seem rather automatic, often so is the response. Of course, there are many variations to these greetings and replies. In less mechanical greetings, we show concern for a person by asking about something specific, and we usually have some prior knowledge to help us form these questions. For example, "Hi, Mary. How's your new job working out?"
The reply given to your greeting may depend on how much the person wants to reveal.
Tone of voice (the way our voice goes up and down to show different meanings or feelings), gestures and facial expression sometimes reveal more than words do. It's important to know that people in Britain and America greet each other every time they meet.
Formulas that are frequently used when leaving or parting:
Good-bye
See you tomorrow
bye-bye/bye (very familiar)
So long! (very familiar)
See you later! (very familiar)
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| Addressing People | | | Ex. 2. Address the following people, adding an opening sentence to your greeting address. |