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Greetings 

and 

Farewells 

FOR NATURAL 

SOUNDING 

CONVERSATION: 

The fastest way to improve 

your English usage is to not use mechanical or memorized 

phrases for your greetings and farewells. 

Most students have memorized one or two basic greetings and 

use them too often. Some of the greetings that are taught to 

young students are stiff and unnatural. In particular the tried 

and true, and very tired, “Fine, thank you, and you?” 

Most native speakers will immediately adjust their language to 

what they guess is your English skill level based only on your ini-

tial greetings and responses. 

If you greet them with a mechanical and unnatural greeting, they 

may give you a very simple response and most likely won’t be 

very responsive - as they will assume that your skill level is low 

and that it will be difficult to communicate with you. 

Don’t let them under-rate you based on a poor first impression.