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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary
Socializing: Conversational rules
Hi! What do you say in English as a reply when you ask someone a question, like e.g. Where do you work, and then the other person says the place - what's your answer then? Something like "ah OK" or just "OK" or is there anything else you can say (but don't want to talk more about that topic without being rude)? Thank you for your ideas!
Top answer
Don't ask where someone works if you don't really want to talk about that! Ask questions that might bring out answers that interest you! On the other hand, if you do find yourself in this position, instead of answering anything when they tell you where they work, you can just ask another question without commenting on their answer at all.
- Don't ask where someone works if you don't really want to talk about that!
- Ask questions that might bring out answers that interest you!
- On the other hand, if you do find yourself in this position, instead of answering anything when they tell you where they work, you can just ask another question without commenting on their answer at all.
- Hopefully a better question!
- But if you are not interested, but still want to keep the conversation going , just repeat the last few words that they said.
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4 Answers
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Don't ask where someone works if you don't really want to talk about that!
Ask questions that might bring out answers that interest you!
On the other hand, if you do find yourself in this position, instead of answering anything when they tell you where they work, you can just ask another question without commenting on their answer at all. Hopefully a better question!
Bu
Ask questions that might bring out answers that interest you!
On the other hand, if you do find yourself in this position, instead of answering anything when they tell you where they work, you can just ask another question without commenting on their answer at all. Hopefully a better question!
Bu
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I love your answer, CJ, it's very good! I'm writing a story, though (sorry for my maybe misleading description!) and I can't come up with any natural and short reply in English. Would you consider a comment like "oh OK" to be very rude?
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AnonymousWould you consider a comment like "oh OK" to be very rude?Not really rude, but not exactly appropriate. It's OK, but you might consider these if you want something very neutral:
Oh, really?
That's interesting.
Interesting.
Uh-hunh.
Mmm.
(In case you didn't know, "uh-hunh" is like "yes" and "uh-uh
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