Basic English conversation Assistant Lecturer : Ahmed Najm Abed University of Kufa , Faculty of Education / Department of English .

Daily Greeting Good morning is both a formal and informal greeting. Americans say good morning from sunrise to noon. Good afternoon is both a formal and informal greeting. You can say good afternoon to both strangers and friends. Americans say good afternoon from noon until about 5:00 PM.. .

Daily Greeting Good evening" is both a formal and informal greeting. You can say this to both strangers and friends. Americans say good evening from about 5:00 PM until sunrise. After sunrise, they say good morning .

Introducing oneself Hello, I am Yoko. I’m Japanese. I live in Tokyo. I am 14 years old and I love collecting stamps. Now use the table below to create similar introductions.

Name Country Nationality City Age Hobbies/Sports Ann Yoko America Japan American Japanese New York Tokyo 12 years old 14 years old reading books collecting stamps

Meeting for the first time . Sita : Hello, I am Sita Sharma. What is your name? Gita : I’m Gita. Sita : Where do you live? Gita : Varanasi. Sita : Oh, really? I’m also from Varanasi. Meeting after a long time: peter : Where have you been all these days? We haven’t met for ages. Sarah : I’ve been very busy with preparations for our Annual Day function.

Three Levels Of Formality In English Formal – Textbooks, official reports, academic articles, essays, business letters, contracts, official speeches. Semi-formal – Day-to-day interaction with colleagues and teachers, popular magazines/books, interviews, when talking with someone in authority or whom you respect. Informal – Interacting with friends, speaking or chatting online.

focus on communication- encouraging : The expressions that can be used to encourage people in their efforts and on their achievements, are detailed below : Informal : Come on! Keep it up! You can do it! Go on! Neutral : Well done! You’re doing fine / very well! That’s fine / lovely / great! Formal : You have our backing. You have our whole-hearted support.

focus on communication - asking for and showing preferences The expressions asking for and showing preferences are detailed below: Neutral Situations - Asking for preferences : Would you prefer ……. or ……..? Which would you prefer …. or ….. ? Do you like … better than ……?

Showing preferences I think I like ……… better. I would go for …………… I’d rather have …………. anytime.

Informal Situations –showing and asking Asking for preferences : We can …… or …; what do you say? Do you prefer ……. or ……? What’s your favourite …….? Showing preferences : I think I like …….. I would go for ……….. I’d rather have ……. anytime.

Formal Situations- showing and asking Asking for preferences : Do you find … or …. More enjoyable? The choice is yours; ….. or ……. ? Which appeals more ……. or …….? Showing preferences : I have a strong preference for ……… I generally find ….. more satisfactory. I’d generally choose …… in preference to ………

Test Yourself - formal, neutral or informal English When you are introduced to somebody for the first time, what should you say?  Nice to meet you  How do you do ?  What’s up?

Nice to meet you . This is neutral and can be used in most social contexts with most people. How do you do? – This is a formal phrase that would only be used on formal occasions with specific people. What’s up? – This is informal phrase .

Invitations - Neutral I was wondering if you would like to join us for a meal. Perhaps you would like to have dinner at my home. Perhaps you would like to come round for a meal. We wanted to invite you to dinner.

Formal - Invitations I was wondering if you would like to join us for a meal. We would like to invite you to dinner. Perhaps you would like to have dinner at my home. Perhaps you would like to come round for a meal.

Invitations-Informal Why not come round for a drink? What about going out for a meal? Why not join us for a drink? Fancy going for a drink/ a meal?

formality – words Some groups of words can be put on a scale from (very) formal to (very) informal. Very formal : Offspring , residence , Alcoholic beverages neutral :children , house/flat , drink . very informal : kids, place , booze .