Expressing Greeting

Greeting is used to say hello in English. In this lesson, the greetings will be divided into three kinds; the time-based greetings, formal and informal greetings.

1. Greetings following the time 

Time-based greetings are kind of greeting used based on time when the two speakers meet.
They are: Good morning, good day, good afternoon, good evening and good night.

Example
Harry : “Good morning, Debbie”.
Debbie : “Good morning”.

As we can see, the greeting can be used by the both speakers. Any form of greetings like this, it is responded with the same words.

Example
Victoria : “So, have you finished with your homework?” Bobby : “Yes. Thank you for your help.” Victoria : “You’re welcome. So, I’ll see you again tomorrow. Good night, Bobby.” Bobby : “Good night.”

From the example above, we can see that Victoria and Bobby will not seeing each other again until the next day. The use of “good night” there is to saying goodbye.

2. Formal Greetings

When we meet people for the first time, usually we say, “How do you do”. The response will be the same. The example of this is as follows:

Marcus : “Hey Boy, I want you to meet my friend, Randy.”
Boy : “How do you do, Randy.”
Randy : “How do you do too.”

From the example above, we can see that “how do you do” is used when Marcus introduced his friend Randy to another friend Boy. They have not known each other before. After being introduced, we also can say “nice to meet you” or “pleased to meet you” to the new person we just met.

The common formal greeting we used is “how are you”. This expression is used when we see people at any time, to those whom we met every day or those whom we rarely meet. Look at the two examples:

Example 1
Kenneth : “Good morning, Gilbert.”
Gilbert : “Good morning, Kenneth.”
Kenneth : “How are you today?”
Gilbert : “Well, not really well. I couldn’t sleep last night. I have a headache now.”
Kenneth : “Oh, I am really sorry to hear that.”

Example 2
Mark : “Hey … David? Is that you?”
David : “Hi … mmh … Mark? Wow it’s been a long time.”
Mark : “Yes, it’s me. How are you, friend?”
David : “I’m fine, thank you. How about you?”
Mark : “Very well, thanks.”

In the first example, we can see that Kenneth and Gilbert are friends who meet every day. Kenneth asked Gilbert how he is that day by saying “how are you today”. Therefore, the expression can be used as daily greeting to our friends or people we meet.

Meanwhile, in the second example; Mark and David are two friends that have been not seeing each other for a while. We do not know how long they were apart, but the phrase “is that you” confirms that they have not seeing each other for some times.

The response for greeting expression “How are you” can be varied, depends on the speaker’s condition. The following are some examples.

Question : How are you?
Answer : I am fine, thank you

Very well, thank you/thanks
Not bad
I am not really well
I’m good

We can also say “how are you doing” for the same greeting.

3. Informal Greetings
For the informal greetings, there are numerous greetings we can use. The informal greetings are kind of greetings we use to the people close to us, like our family or our friends. Young people or teenagers are those who often use this expression.

Here are some examples:
• Hi
• Hello
• What’s up?
• How’s life?
• How is it going?

The responses for these kinds of greetings are also varied. For the greetings like “hi” or “hello”, the response is the same. While for the other greetings, the responses can be the same with the formal greetings. For example, “I’m good”, “Fine, thanks”.

Reza Hadi Saputra

Hello, I'm Reza Hadi Saputra I'm Students, Business Enthusiast, Web Developer, Null Byte Enthusiast

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