Communicative functions: Interacting with others

Using formulaic expressions

Agreeing, disagreeing, showing approval and giving encouragement

In a conversation, when a speaker takes a turn to speak, the other speakers often react, for example they may agree or disagree with what is said. Other reactions include showing approval, giving encouragement, or giving suggestions.

In this example from a children's conversation, the second speaker agrees with the first speaker. She uses the expression exactly to show her agreement:

	That's bad because you're not actually on it.	statement to keep the conversation going
	Exactly	agreeing

Here are some more expressions for agreeing:

Right
That's true
Yes it is, isn't it?

Often when we have conversations with our friends and family, we disagree with what a speaker says. In the example below, the second speaker disagrees with the first speaker. The first speaker makes a negative statement about eating fish. The second speaker signals her disagreement by beginning her turn with the expression Don't you? Then she makes a positive statement about fish:

	I don't like fish	statement
	Don't you? I like tuna and I love those chewy things.	disagreeing

We often use formulaic expressions to show our approval and to encourage the other speaker to continue. We use these expressions to react to what another speaker says. In this example, the first speaker describes a new ride at Ocean Park and the second speaker uses the informal expression Cool to show her approval:

	An Abyss is sort of like a big pit you go into.	statement
	Cool	showing approval

We often use the same expressions for agreeing and showing approval. A common informal expression used to encourage another speaker to continue is Go on:

Go on. What happened next?

Here are some more formal ways of encouraging another speaker to continue:

That's fascinating. What happened next? 
That's very interesting. So what happened?

We also use formulaic expressions to make suggestions. Here is a common expression we use to make a suggestion:

Why don't you do it this way?

Another common way to make a suggestion is to use a declarative clause:

You could try doing it this way.

For more information about reactions, see:

Text types: Texts for social interaction: Overview: The language of social interaction