M eeting people

Almost every day we meet new people and if you are poIite you greet them. But greeting people in a foreign language is not so simple. There are a lot of ways of saying “Hello” in English. You would always say “Hello” or "Hi” to a friend, but in greeting your seniors, teachers or persons you approach officially, on business etc. you would say “Good morning,” “Good afternoon,” or “Good evening” depending on the time of the day.

When you are introduced to a person you always say “How do you do.” True enough this greeting sounds quite formal, and that’s why the next phrase would be “Glad to meet you,”or “Nice to meet you.” In order to keep up the conversation or when you want to show your interest, you ask “Where are you from?” or “What is your occupation?” Besides, it is very common to talk about the weather, sports, hobbies, etc.

Study the introduction expressions:

Formal:

Let me introduce Mr. N.

Allow me to introduce Ms P.

May I present Mrs. R. to ...

Informal:

Meet my friend ...

I’d like you to meet my friend ...

Nick, this is my friend ...

What you say when meeting people

How are you?

How are you getting on? How are you doing?

How is life?

How is life treating you?

Responses:

Positive Fine. Really fine. Never been better. Very well. Terrific. Great.

Middie-of-the-road Not so bad. So-so. OK.

Negative Awful. Don’t even ask. Terrible. Not so good.

When you first meet a person you say:

I’m very glad to meet you.

I’ve heard so much about you.

I’ve heard so many nice things about you. Where are you from?

How long have you been here?

What is your first name?

What is your last (family) name?

How do you spell your name?

I think that apologising is one of the hardest things that anyone has to do, in any language and no matter who the person concerned is. Most people’s apologies very quickly become excuses, and eventually switch from ‘I’m sorry for what I did’ to ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’, which is not really an apology but a veiled accusation. Other people just don’t apologise, and try to pretend that nothing actually happened, which is worse. An apology has to be made, because if you don’t say you’re sorry when you should, it sort of means that it wasn’t a big deal to you, and you don’t really care. So, how should it be done?

Apologising...

Sorry!

Please accept my (humblest) apology...

I was wrong.

I shouldn’t have said that.

My comments to you were ill-advised.

I made a stupid mistake...

I’m genuinely sorry.

There is no excuse for my behaviour.

It was not my intention to... I’m terribly sorry.

Asking Questions:

Direct questions can seem impolite at times, especially when you are asking a stranger. For example, if you come up to someone and ask:

Does the tram stop here?

What time is it?

Can you move?

It is certainly correct to ask questions in this manner, but it's very common to make these types of questions more polite by adding 'excuse me' or 'pardon me' to begin your question.

Excuse me, when does the bus leave?

Excuse me, what time is it?

Pardon me, which form do I need?

Questions with 'can' are made more polite by using 'could':

Excuse me, could you help me pick this up?

Pardon me, could you help me?

Pardon me, could you give me a hand?

Another way of making direct questions more polite is to add 'please' at the end of the question:

Could you fill in this form, please?

Could you help me, please?

Can I have more soup, please? NOT Please, can I have more soup?