GREETING

The way to greet someone in formal situation

Greetings
Good	morning	sir madam Mr Jones Mrs Smith
	afternoon
	evening

Language in the program
How are you? It's lovely to see you again! It's been a long time, hasn't it? How are things with you?

Examples of situations where you might use formal greetings
Working in the service industry, e.g. a restaurant, hotel, travel agent Greeting someone older than you At work, when speaking to your superiors Meeting a VIP e.g. a politician Being polite to someone you don't know very well

Conversation

Good morning, Mr Jones.

Hello, James. How are you?

I’m very well, thank you. How are you?

Fine, thank you.

The way to greet someone in informal situation

Saying hello

Hello! Hey Jane! Hi Jane! Alright, Jane! Alright, mate! Yo!

Asking someone how they are

How are you? How you doing? How you going? How's it going? You alright? Are you alright? How are you getting on? How is everything? How have you been? How have you been keeping? How are you keeping? How’s life? What’s cooking? What’s up? What’s new? What’s happening? What’s going on?

Saying you are well

Good, thanks! Fine, thanks! I’m very well, thank you. Very well, thanks! Not bad, not bad! Alright, thanks! OK, thanks! I'm OK! Yeah, not bad, not bad. Yeah, no trouble. Great! No problem. Just so so. Pretty good, I suppose. No worries. Just the average. Oh, not much. The usual. The same as usual.

Returning the question when someone has asked if you are well

And you? How about you? What about you?

Conversation

Hey Jane, how you doing?

Good thanks, and you?

Yeah, not bad, not bad.

Vocabulary

Mate: an informal word meaning ‘friend’ which refers to the person you’re speaking to. It’s England and Australian expression to greet someone. Yo: greeting addressed to someone you close with and mostly younger people I suppose: I think

Activity

Vocabulary activity

Look at the sentences below. Use the drop down menu to choose the correct word to complete each sentence. To find out if you are right or wrong click the 'Check answers' button.

1: Hello Mike! Great to see you again, ________are you?

2: I'm ____________bad, thanks!.

3: How are you_________?

4: I'm _________thanks!

Options

1)      Not

2)      Fine

3)      How

4)      Getting on?

Follow-up

what can you say in conversations after the initial greeting? You may often find you want to say something more to keep the conversation going, but you don’t quite know what to say. In this lesson, we’re going to look at some handy language and topics of conversation that you might use.

Some follow-up questions and phrases
I haven't seen you for ages! What've you been up to? What are you up to? What are you doing around here? Answers: Oh, this and that… Just the usual!
Four handy topic areas	Examples
appearance (usually only with people you know well) your surroundings transport the weather	You look great! Isn't it nice here! Did you get here OK? Isn't it a lovely day!

Conversation

Alright Carrie, how are you?

Yeah, I’m fine Neil, how you going?

Yeah, very well. What are you doing around here?

Oh, I was just popping into the shop down the road there.

Vocabulary

I haven't seen you for ages!: I haven’t seen you for a very long time! What've you been up to?: quite an informal phrase, which means ‘what have you been doing?’ Obviously, he’s not expecting full details of everything Carrie has been doing, but it’s a friendly way of making conversation. What are you up to?: what are you doing now? Oh, this and that/Just the usual!: a way of saying nothing new or different from what she normally does. I was just popping into the shop down the road there: an informal way of saying ‘going to a shop’.

Activity

Arranging words

Read the context for each question, then arrange the words into sentences. Good luck!

1: You meet up with a friend who you haven't seen for a long time, you say...

ages! haven't I seen for you absolutely

______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______

2: You want to ask your friend John what he has been doing. You say...

What to you up been John? have

______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______

3: A friend comes to visit you and you ask her about her journey to see you. You say...

traffic I the bad too wasn’t today! hope

______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______

4: You go to dinner at a friend's. You want to say something nice about her home…

lovely What house! a

______ ______ ______ ______

Note:

Greeting someone you never meet:

 “Hi, my name is Steve. It’s nice to meet you.”

 “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jack.”

Another common greeting

“What do you do for a living?”

 “I work at a restaurant.“, or“I work at a bank.”

Usually, you don’t need to ask for name. It shows that everybody should tell their names. But if not, you can ask

  “What is your name?”

Often, we can’t hear their voice clearly. If we want to ask them to repeat their word, say ..

“What was that again?”

“Excuse me?”

“Pardon me?”

Greeting someone you know:

“Hey John, how have you been?”

“Hi Bob, how are you?”

“Hi Nancy, what have you been up to?”

“Andy, it’s been a long time, how are you man?”

If you meet someone by chance, you can say

“Hey Jack, it’s good to see you. What are you doing here?”

“What a surprise. I haven’t seen you in a long time. How have you been?”

If you see him in a restaurant or a movie, for example. You can say

“Do you come to this restaurant often?”

“What movie did you come to see?”

there’s one topic of conversation we haven’t looked at yet but which we can’t possibly forget to mention is that very British favourite…

It’s lovely weather today, isn’t it?

What awful weather we’re having!

Isn’t all this sunshine great!

It’s turned very cold suddenly, hasn’t it?

Just a taste of some of the many, many things there are to say about the weather… always a nice, safe topic!