Good day, hello, how do you do? What’s up? We greet people this way every day, sometimes more than once. Today we are going to focus on the different ways of greeting someone, either personally or on the telephone.
Let us begin with different ways of saying hello in person. However, how we greet someone, depends on a formal or informal situation. When we are invited in for a job interview for example, we would say:
It’s nice to meet you
Pleased to meet you
It was good to see you again
How do you do?
Good morning
Good evening
We can reply to these by repeating the phrase and in the case of the first three phrases, adding too:
It’s nice to meet you, too
Pleased to meet you, too
It was good to see you again, too
How do you do?
Good morning
Good day
However, the first three don’t work on the telephone. If the initial contact is made on the phone, it’s more common to say:
Hi
Hello
Good day
Good morning
Good evening
In addition to that, it is very useful to address the person we are speaking to. This makes us look more professional and sound more interested. Here are a couple of examples:
Hello, this is Angela Barnes. Is David there?
Good morning Angela. David speaking. How can I help you?
You must be Peter Brown. My name is Susan Williams. How do you do?
Yes, I am Peter Brown. How do you do?
We don’t always have to be this formal. When we are meeting a friend at a bar, we are more likely to say one of the following:
How’s it going?
What’s up?
How are things?
Nice to see you
Long time, no see
And here is how we respond:
It’s going well thank you. How’s it going with you?
Nothing much. How about you?
Things are going well thanks. How are things going with you?
Nice to see you, too
Yes, it is! Great to see you.
There are many ways we can greet someone, so why don’t you try them out?
Click on the image to watch a video about how to Greet in English
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