"How've you been?" "Working hard"

Question

A: 'How've you been?'B:  'Oh working hard.'1. Is the phrase 'I've been working hard.' omitted as B's line?2. When do you omit a subject and a verb like B?3. When I am asked 'How've you been?', would it be wrong to reply 'I'm good'?Thank you for your help.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

AchamoA: 'How've you been?'
B: 'Oh working hard.'

1. Is the phrase 'I've been working hard.' omitted as B's line? Yes. When answering these questions informally, a phrase is frequently used instead of a complete sentence.
2. When do you omit a subject and a verb like B? In informal or casual situations.
3. When I am asked 'How've you been?', would it be wrong to reply 'I'm good'? The standard answer is "OK." "I'm good" is not wrong, but it is not a standard reply. It is hard to interpret; it implies that you have not been doing bad things.

SJ_1991 · Answer

you might heared that sentences in a daily conversation or something informal.

if someboby asks you: how have you been? He asks about your feeling, you're angry, tired, feel good or somthing like these.

when somebody asks: what were you doing? or how were you working? you should tell I was working hard or sth like that.

I think the answer B is not appropriate for question B.

2. In english you can omit something you can predict what was that. If you can't predict, you can't omit it. About verbs you can't omit them at all. about subject you can omit it in imperetive sentences in which subjective is "you". There are many grammer points about subjectives you can omit them. I mentioned one of the most common omited subjectives. If you wanna read more I suggest "Longman Prepration for TOEFL".

3. It's completely true.

Good Luck !

Achamo · Answer

Dear AlpheccaStars,

Thank you very much for your answer! If I am asked "How have you been?", it would basically be okay to reply "OK"?

I was wondering if you could answer my additional questions, please?

1. Can the term "-ing" also be the abbreviation of "S + be/was/were + -ing"? eg "Working" = "I am/was/were working"

2. Can it be omitted if a sentence is a negative sentence, too?

eg "It haven't really been raining in spite of the forecast." into "Not really raining in spite of the forecast"

3. The sentences eg "I like it", "I live in the same prefecture as her", "I jog everyday" cannot be omitted as "liking it", "Living in the same prefecture as her", "Jogging everyday", can them?

Dear SJ_1991,

Many thanks for your detailed answer and suggestion the book. I learned from you!

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Achamo1. Can the term "-ing" also be the abbreviation of "S + be/was/were + -ing"? eg "Working" = "I am/was/were working"

I'm not sure what your question is. But the contractions with -ing are:

He's working the night shift. ('s = is)

I'm working for KFC. ('m = am)

We're working now. ('re = are)

She's been working here three weeks. ('s = has)

They'll be working tomorrow. ('ll = will)

Achamo2. Can it be omitted if a sentence is a negative sentence, too?

Not really.

A: How've you been?

B: Not so good. I'm not working at KFC any more. I lost my job last week.

Achamoeg "It hasn't really been raining in spite of the forecast." into "Not really raining in spite of the forecast"

No, this is not natural. The shortened replies are mostly when you are answering something about yourself.

A: How are you doing?

B: (I'm doing) Fine.

A: What's new?

B: Nothing much (is new).

A: Has it been raining at your house?

B: No, it hasn't rained in a month.

Achamo3. The sentences eg "I like it", "I live in the same prefecture as her", "I jog everyday" cannot be omitted as "liking it", "Living in the same prefecture as her", "Jogging everyday", can they?

You have to give sample conversations. Here are a couple:

A: Are you getting exercise?

B: You bet! Jogging an hour every morning. (This is very informal. B is very proud of himself! Most people would answer: I'm jogging...)

A: Where are you living now?

B: In the same prefecture as Lijuan. (Note that the "short" answer omits the subject and verb.)

A: Do you like it?

B: Yes.

Achamo · Answer

Thank you very much for your detailed answer.

I also appreciate your correction and trying guessing what I meant in bad English!

About the previous question 1, I wanted to say to mean "working" can become the abbreviations of these phrases "I'm working", "I was working", "I have been working", "I had been working", depending on contexts, is it correct?

eg

A: You didn't answer the phone, but what were you doing back then?

B: Working (= I was working). Yesterday I told you I worked instead of a coworker.

Please let me know if you don't understand me. I will try to ask another way

And how should I have written for telling intelligibly what I wanted to ask?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

AchamoAbout the previous question 1, I wanted to say to mean "working" can become the abbreviations of these phrases "I'm working", "I was working", "I have been working", "I had been working", depending on contexts, is it correct?

It is not really an abbreviation; it's just a short informal answer. In casual conversations, we often give incomplete sentences as an answer.

AchamoA: You didn't answer the phone, but what were you doing back then?
B: Working (= I was working). Yesterday I told you I worked instead of a coworker.

Yes, this is a good example.

Achamo · Answer

Thank you very much for your reply.

A: You didn't answer the phone, but what were you doing back then?
In casual conversations, it would be natural to reply just "Working. Yesterday..." as an answer to A. Do I understand correctly?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

AchamoA: You didn't answer the phone, but what were you doing back then?
In casual conversations, it would be natural to reply just "Working. Yesterday..." as an answer to A. Do I understand correctly?

Yes. I would give this sort of answer in a casual conversation with friends.

Achamo · Answer

I understand. Many thanks for your answer! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

"How've you been?" "Working hard"

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions