[General] Greetings

[Khosro]

I am trying to improve my vocabulary and phrases for the greetings. I need it myself and I need it for my students.

1- How are you today?
2- How is it going?
3- How are you doing?
4- How is tom doing?
5- How have you been?
6- What's up?
7- What are the news with tom?

8- Nice to meet you.

first, what is the difference between 2 and 3?
second, How can I make other sentences with 2 and 3?
third, is 4 correct? and what does it really mean?
fourth, what does 5 mean?
fifth, what about the difference between 6 on one hand and 2,3 on the other hand?
sixth, is it possible to make more precise sentences with 6?
seventh, is 7 correct?
eighth, 8 sounds formal. what can you say to a friend when you want to say that seeing him has made you happy?
ninth, if there are any idiomic answers to the sentences above, please let me know.

I know I have raised too many question but since they are all about greetings I hope you excuse me for their being so numerous.

Thank you in advance. I appreciate if you mention that your answers are based on British English or American English, or just common English.

 

[Coolfootluke]

I am not a teacher, and I am American.

1. No real difference. Both meaningless stock greetings. I guess 2 is more informal.

2. Casually, among friends, you hear the mock-Shakespearean "How goes it?" Also, "How are you doing?" gets truncated to "How ya doin'?"

3. Number 4 is correct (except capitalize "Tom", of course). In casual conversation, just wanting to mention Tom, it is as meaningless as the greeting. It is a way of prompting the other person to tell you Tom's recent history. On the other hand, if you both know that Tom is having problems, it would be the normal way of expressing real concern.

4. Meaningless stock greeting.

5. "What's up" is slangy, but it is a meaningless stock greeting.

6. No, but there are many more or less standard slangy variations, for instance, What's up, Doc? What's up in your world? Wussup?

7. No. "News" is construed as singular: What's the news with Tom?

8. "Nice to meet you" is not very formal. "It is a pleasure to meet you" would be quite formal. To greet a friend enthusiastically, you might say, "It is wonderful to see you."

 

[TheParser]

I am trying to improve my vocabulary and phrases for the greetings. I need it myself and I need it for my students.

1- How are you today?
2- How is it going?
3- How are you doing?
4- How is tom doing?
5- How have you been?
6- What's up?
7- What are the news with tom?

8- Nice to meet you.

first, what is the difference between 2 and 3?
second, How can I make other sentences with 2 and 3?
third, is 4 correct? and what does it really mean?
fourth, what does 5 mean?
fifth, what about the difference between 6 on one hand and 2,3 on the other hand?
sixth, is it possible to make more precise sentences with 6?
seventh, is 7 correct?
eighth, 8 sounds formal. what can you say to a friend when you want to say that seeing him has made you happy?
ninth, if there are any idiomic answers to the sentences above, please let me know.

I know I have raised too many question but since they are all about greetings I hope you excuse me for their being so numerous.

Thank you in advance. I appreciate if you mention that your answers are based on British English or American English, or just common English.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Khosro,


(1) If you want your students to think that you are a "really cool

dude," you should walk into class, smile at them, and ask: 'sup?

As you have guessed, that's how some young people say What's up?

One day a person whom I know (and who is a senior citizen like me)

went to a store where the sales associate (elegant name for a

clerk) greeted him with 'sup? This person, not understanding, looked

up at the ceiling!!!

(2) Yes, the dictionary tells us that news is the plural of new, but when it is

used to mean information, English speakers have decided it takes a

singular verb. Of course, for a greeting, you could say:

What's new? What's happening?

UPDATE:

I did some googling and discovered that "news" could take a plural

verb in older English. For example, who wrote this in 1837:

"I am very sorry that the [the name of a country is mentioned]

news are still so unfavourable."

Answer: It was Queen Victoria.

And Shakespeare has one of his characters ask:

What news are these!

 

[Khosro]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Khosro,

(1) If you want your students to think that you are a "really cool

dude," you should walk into class, smile at them, and ask: 'sup?

As you have guessed, that's how some young people say What's up?

One day a person whom I know (and who is a senior citizen like me)

went to a store where the sales associate (elegant name for a

clerk) greeted him with 'sup? This person, not understanding, looked

up at the ceiling!!!

Thanks For the explainations TheParser. That was a funny story and I guess 'sup could be usefull as well, as a way to raise their curiousity. Anyway, I am not going to be a dude of any kind. What I am after is a through examination of some greetings. As I told before its being American or British matters to me because some of them should learn British English.

 

[Khosro]

Any other replys?

 

[5jj]

Here's the BrE response:
1- How are you today? Normal. The person addressed usually responds with something like, 'Fine, thanks; and you?'
2- How is it going? More informal. Response as for #1.
3- How are you doing? As for #2
4- How is Tom doing? An enquiry about someone known to both speakers.
5- How have you been? As for #1, though the speakers probably have not met very recently.
6- What's up? Uncommon as a greeting in BrE. It is usually asked only if the enquirer feels that there may be some sort of problem.
7- What are the news with Tom? No. If we are expecting to hear of some developments in Tom's life, career, health, etc, we may ask, "What's the news on Tom?"
8- Nice to meet you. On first meeting, after you have been introduced - or have introduced yourselves.

5

 

[Khosro]

I am trying to improve my vocabulary and phrases for the greetings. I need it myself and I need it for my students.

1- How are you today?
2- How is it going?
3- How are you doing?
4- How is tom doing?
5- How have you been?
6- What's up?
7- What are the news with tom?

8- Nice to meet you.

second, How can I make other sentences with 2 and 3? I mean more specific questions. For example, "How is it going with..." or "How are you doing with...?"

eighth, 8 sounds formal. what can you say to a friend when you want to say that seeing him has made you happy?

ninth, if there are any idiomic answers to the sentences above, please let me know.

Thank you very much. I repeat my 2'nd, 8'th and 9'th questions. I hope to get more answers. I also add some explainations to my second question. And please list any possible answer to the 9'th question. Thanks in advance.

 

[Khosro]

Any idea?

 

[JMurray]

Khosro.
Greetings have a lot of regional variation and I won't go into the Australasian "G'day". But here are a few options that haven't been mentioned, and some informal responses that spring to mind. Some of these are very informal, but I hear them all the time.

"How are you going?" – "Good thanks, yourself?".
"Hi, what's happening?" – "Not much".
"Good (great) to see you" – "And you". "Same here". "You too".
"Hi, how are things?" (often spoken as "how's things?") – "Really good". "About the same". "So-so". "Same old". "Not too shabby".

Extended versions of:
2- How is it going?
3- How are you doing?

How's it going at school, are you getting good marks?
How's it going with the new girlfriend?
How's it going, are they keeping you on your toes?
How are you doing these days, staying out of trouble?
How are you doing? Very nicely, from what I hear.

As to #8, if you were pleased to see a friend again it might go something like this.
"Hi, it's so good to see you".
"Same here, how've you been?" ... but the possibilities are infinite of course.

not a teacher