Will_Mo
What's "how's it going" & the proper response? (Especially in the following cases)
What does "how's it going" really mean? & What's the proper response?
1. At the beginning of a conversation
Is it just a signal for the beginning of a conversation? (And what's the proper response for it?)
Or the speaker really wants to catch up with someone?
It could mean both, but which is the most common?
If it's not frequent in your daily life, what's the sentence that you use to start a conversation or to greet?
2. In the middle of a conversation
e.g.
A: I just had a quiz.
B: How's it going?
For this case, I suppose B is asking about how A feels about the quiz rather than what the exact result of the quiz is.
The question is,
if my understanding is correct, why doesn't B ask "how do you feel about it/the quiz"?
Is it about some social etiquette?
If I misunderstand it, what else could B mean?
And what's the proper response?
Thanks for reading my questions and your answers would be helpful!
:)
For the questions, my focus is more on the social code.
2018년 5월 5일 오전 7:56
답변 · 7
1
1. It can signal the beginning of a conversation, just like "hi" does. And while people in many countries genuinely care about the response, in America, "How's it going?" and "How are you?" are more just things we say rather than genuine questions. The usual response is "Good" or "Fine" Another phrase they use is "What's up?"
2. In the middle of a conversation, this phrase may change.
"We just had a quiz" -- "How did it go?"
"I'm off school on break for a while." "Right, school. How's it going?"
If it's used in the middle of a conversation, the person is asking about something specific rather than how life is going in general.
3. They could ask how they felt about the quiz, but it's just easier to say "How did it go?" or "How was the quiz?" We tend to use as few words as possible to get our meaning across. But it's not incorrect to ask "How did you feel about the quiz?"
2018년 5월 5일
"How's it going?" is a common greeting in most social situations, it's another way to say hello. When you say "How's it going?" you are actually asking how they are feeling. A proper response is "I'm doing fine" if things are going well or "I'm not doing so well" if things are going bad.
To answer your second question if you are referencing something like a quiz. Then you would say "How was the quiz?" and they would respond to how they felt about the quiz.
2018년 5월 5일
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