Greetings are Important in almost every culture in the world. Greetings can help us communicate better with people and start socializing. It is also important to know how to greet different people. We cannot greet our boss the way we greet our best friend or a stranger, or an elderly person, each of these demands a different way of greeting.

The reason it is important for us to know the level of formality of each of these phrases is to maintain the level of formality when talking to another person. It would be weird if the other person starts the greeting very formally and we reply with an informal phrase or the other way around. Therefore it is very important to observe the level of formality of the situation, which can be:

Here, we have listed some of the greetings based on their degree of formality from very formal, to formal, and neutral. Some phrases can be used in both speech and writing. These can be used in business conversations, or when talking to people you don't know well, or in other formal situations. The neutral greetings can be used everywhere and with anyone. Have a look at the following table:

Here, you can find less formal (informal) phrases that can be used in social events, with friends, with people you may already know, etc. Let's have a look at the following table:

Here, we have listed some slang greetings. They may not be grammatically correct, but they are used in spoken English. You can use them when greeting friends or people who are close to you and you feel comfortable with:

As you can see, there are different slang expressions in American and British English. So you must pay attention to where you can use each of them.

We mostly use very formal and particular greetings when writing emails/letters. Let's check the following table:

There are some greetings that are used at the end of a meeting or letter. Let's check some of the common ones:

There are two ways to respond to greeting:

We can respond to some greetings with a single word (usually the same greetingis repeated). Let's see some examples:

A one-word greeting can seem a little bit dry, so we can sometimes use longer responses to greetings. Here are some examples:

Self-introduction is very important, it is the starter of socializing with others. The introduction and the information you would like to give about yourself depend on the situation, whether it is a classroom, a business meeting, among new friends, etc. An introduction can include the following steps:

Let's check an example conversation in a classroom:

Here you can see another example in a different situation:

Here are some phrases you can use when introducing yourself:

To introduce others you need to follow these steps:

First, you need to state the name of the person you are introducing. You can use the following phrases to start:

You can give a little information about the person you are introducing, such as the relationship between you two (this is my friend/husband/partner/classmate, etc.). If the situation demands, you can use titles such as Mr., Ms., Professor, Doctor, etc. You can also consider telling their job or any other information you think is suitable for the occasion.

When you are introducing one party, remember to introduce the other party too. It is very rude to just introduce one of the people.