Usage : Good morning, Good afternoon...

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Hi,I'm from Asia so English is not my mother tongue. My question : what is the proper usage  for good morning, good afternoon and good evening. For example; if it's 4 pm; what should I use ?? Hope someone can give me a 24 hour usage.Thank You.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I'm from Asia so English is not my mother tongue. My question : what is the proper usage

for good morning, good afternoon and good evening. For example; if it's 4 pm; what should I use ??[/nq]
4pm is tricky; see below.
In contemporary American English, I believe that "good afternoon" and "good evening" are mainly restricted to formal settings (most commonly things like speeches, formal talks, ceremonial addressing of a large group of people), while "good morning" is still in use in informal settings.As for when these expressions should be used, they should be used during the appropriate period (morning, afternoon and evening). Perhaps you'd like a definition of these. "Morning" will typically include the period from about 5am to noon. "Afternoon" will typically include the period after noon until evening starts, which is something that varies socioculturally, and "evening" includes the period from that point until it's too late at night to use the word "evening".

I believe I have noticed even in my lifetime a postponing of the point at which "evening" begins, but it might just be my imagination, and the line between afternoon and evening is affected to some degree by how early in the day sunset occurs. Still, we can make some judgments about this: Afternoon lasts at least until 4pm, and evening begins no later than 6pm, so there's just some unclearness about that 4pm to 6pm period.

As for your question about 4pm, I can't give you a definite answer, but if you had to pick "afternoon" or "evening" I'd go with "afternoon".

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I'm from Asia so English is not my mother tongue. ... example; if it's 4 pm; what should I use ??[/nq]
[nq:1]4pm is tricky; see below. In contemporary American English, I believe that "good afternoon" and "good evening" are mainly restricted ... I can't give you a definite answer, but if you had to pick "afternoon" or "evening" I'd go with "afternoon".[/nq]
No problem in Rightpondia: 4 pm is time for afternoon tea.

Laura
(emulate St. George for email)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hi, I'm from Asia so English is not my mother tongue. My question : what is the proper usage

... For example; if it's 4 pm; what should I use ?? Hope someone can give me a 24 hour usage.[/nq]
Good morning is from midnight to noon.
Good afternoon is from noon to sunset.
Good evening is from sunest to bedtime.
Good night is for bed time.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Usenet · Answer

Steve Hayes filted:
[nq:1]Good morning is from midnight to noon. Good afternoon is from noon to sunset. Good evening is from sunest to bedtime. Good night is for bed time.[/nq]
I don't like it; too simple...what if I and a companion lay abed until one pm and roll over to face one another as our sleepy eyes open..."good afternoon, shall I make breakfast?"...and the night before, when we're crawling from one club to the next, and find a place that's just hitting its stride at two-thirty am?...shall we say "good morning" to the people we meet there?...and if one is in high northern latitudes in summer, and accustomed to a nap around four or so in the afternoon, is it "good night" then and "good afternoon" at nine-thirty when the sun is still above the horizon?...
No, I say it's:
"good morning" the first time you greet a person after rising, and for about an hour thereafter..
"good day" the rest of the day until someone is ready to go home..

"good afternoon" is a special case, used only to address people who arrive at work at eight o'clock when you've been there since six..

"good evening" for a first greeting that takes place after twilight, or a leave-taking before about ten pm..
"good night" is for leave-taking when it's assumed that one of you has nothing further planned before turning in..
Adjustments are made for special cases in this 24-hour world...we have frequent afternoon meetings attended via telephone by colleagues in Sydney; we usually start the call with "good morning"...and when a telemarketer greets me with "good afternoon", I remind them by answering "good morning" that Arizona doesn't subscribe to the foolish notion of Daylight Savings Time...(then I start answering their first few questions and hang up in the middle of one of my own syllables; it never occurs to them to call back when you do that)..r

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hi, I'm from Asia so English is not my mother tongue. My question : what is the proper usage

... For example; if it's 4 pm; what should I use ?? Hope someone can give me a 24 hour usage.[/nq]
It varies by region. In the small town in Ireland where I live, 'Good afternoon' isn't often used, but the less formal, and to me friendlier, 'Good morning' is heard from early morning to as late as 1 PM, sometimes even later. Sticklers for accuracy rare in this country who don't like saying or hearing 'Good morning' after the noon hour, find that 'How are you?' is always suitable.

The usual response, by the way, is not 'I'm fine', but 'How are you?' or, more rarely, 'Fine, how are you?'.

Charles Riggs
email address: chriggs/at/eircom/dot/net

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I'm from Asia so English is not my mother tongue. ... example; if it's 4 pm; what should I use ??[/nq]
[nq:1]4pm is tricky; see below. In contemporary American English, I believe that "good afternoon" and "good evening" are mainly restricted ... formal talks, ceremonial addressing of a large group of people), while "good morning" is still in use in informal settings.[/nq]
I'm British; I see no such restriction. Mind you, all three greetings are a bit more formal in their full, two-word, form, and certainly informal in their clipped form without the "Good": "Morning!", etc..
[nq:1]"Afternoon" will typically include the period after noon[/nq]
Strictly speaking, at 12pm on the dot it becomes OK to use "good afternoon", but that might surprise someone who hasn't had lunch yet and is still thinking that it's morning.
[nq:1]until evening starts, which is something that varies socioculturally, the line between afternoon and evening is affected to some degree by how early in the day sunset occurs.[/nq]
I agree.
[nq:1]Still, we can make some judgments about this: Afternoon lasts at least until 4pm, and evening begins no later than 6pm,[/nq]
Hmm... in Britain, around midsummer, what with the long days and British Summer Time, it feels like afternoon rather than evening until perhaps 8pm. Sunset might be about 9:20 pm.
Bear Areff's other points in mind, though.
Some more points:
It's not usual to greet with "Good morning" someone you'd already spoken to, earlier that same morning. In this respect, "Good morning" isn't like "Hello". (I vaguely remember this subtlety coming up in a story by Wodehouse, though I can't find the passage on the Web.)
You say "Good night" when you leave people, like "Goodbye". When you greet people at night, "Good night" is wrong but "Good evening" is OK, even if it's pitch black.

Richard Sabey Visit the r.p.crosswords competition website cryptic fan at hotmail.com http://www.rsabey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rpc/

Usenet · Answer

I use "Good Morning" all day, and people always feel the need to pick me up on it.
I have often known people to check watches between 11 and 1 after saying "Good Morning" or having it said to them.
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= DUG.
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Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I use "Good Morning" all day, and people always feel the need to pick me up on it. I have often known people to check watches between 11 and 1 after saying "Good Morning" or having it said to them.[/nq]
"Good morning" is appropriate before the meal eaten in the middle of the day. The actual time is a secondary consideration.

Alan Jones

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I use "Good Morning" all day, and people always feel the need to pick me up on it.[/nq]
Not many pick me up on it anymore: the twinkle in my eye says it all. I tend to use it mostly after lunch, and especially in the evening. Just my way...
[nq:1]I have often known people to check watches between 11 and 1 after saying "Good Morning" or having it said to them.[/nq]
This, indeed, was one of the phenomena to prompt said way of mine.

Redwine
Hamburg

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]It varies by region. In the small town in Ireland where I live, 'Good afternoon' isn't often used, but the ... usual response, by the way, is not 'I'm fine', but 'How are you?' or, more rarely, 'Fine, how are you?'.[/nq]
It is worth clarifying, for toyota liteace's benefit, that this is not necessary the usual response everywhere English is spoken. I grew up in a society where one most definitely answers the question, albeit with a minimal amount of honesty, before returning it. "Fine thanks, and you?" or "Not bad. Yourself?" were common responses.
When it comes to "How do you do?", however, I am yet to hear of a dialect in which this question is normally treated as a question rather than a polite greeting to be returned immediately. Hence my predilection for responding, "How do I do what?"
This reminds me of a scene from a film, which I cannot at present identify, where to "How do you do?" the character (I have a feeling it may have been Groucho Marx) responds along the lines of "How and what I do is none of your business." Any takers on this one?

Redwine
Hamburg

Usage : Good morning, Good afternoon...

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