When no real answer is expected

4:00

respond to

4:00

how are you. First, we need to talk

4:03

about something that can confuse English

4:05

learners. Sometimes when we ask someone

4:09

how they are or how things are going, we

4:12

don't really want an answer. We call

4:15

this fhatic communication. This is

4:18

language used for social communication

4:21

rather than to give information or ask

4:24

questions that require an answer. It can

4:27

be really difficult to recognize fatic

4:30

communication when you're learning

4:32

English. You need to rely on context to

4:34

know how to respond. For example, if

4:38

you're at a conference and you meet a

4:40

business associate you've only met once

4:42

before, they might ask, "How's it

4:45

going?" But they most likely won't

4:47

expect a detailed answer. An appropriate

4:50

response would be, "Fine, thanks. You

4:54

you're not really exchanging any

4:55

information." But if you bump into a

4:58

close friend and they ask the same

5:00

question, they probably really want to

5:03

know. You might respond with, "Not bad,

5:06

thanks. Actually, I just got a bit of

5:08

good news." Blah blah blah blah blah.

5:10

Usually, we answer fairly positively

5:12

when someone asks how we are. Unless

5:14

we're sure they want to hear about our

5:16

troubles. Okay, we'll start with three

5:18

of the most common ways to respond. We

5:21

have