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I was walking on Fifth Ave. yesterday on my way to the Chelsea Campus when I ran into a friend of mine who I haven’t seen in a long time. “What’s up?” he asked. Actually, that was the first thing he said. For me, it was a pretty usual question. For some people though, it could cause them to look in the sky…

English is a language where conversation is driven by questions. Questions are the starting  point of our greetings as well. Please note that we are talking about greetings between people who already know each other, not greetings used when meeting someone for the first time. With that in mind, note that there are two basic types  of questions we greet each other with.  These are “what” and “how.” Let’s take a look at greeting questions with “what.” Here are some examples:

• What’s new?
• What’s up?
• What’s shaking?

All three of these have exactly the same meaning and usage. They are interchangeable when used as a casual greeting. They are conversation starters, and you have a few choices in terms of how you reply. Make sure you reply about something, and not about your feeling (see below). Some general replies are like this:

• What’s new? Not much, how about you?
• What’s up?  Nothing special. What’s up with you?
• What’s shaking? Same old, how about you?

You can also reply by saying something that is new with you, some news you know about or heard, or some point of fact that you will begin a conversation with from this launch pad.

• What’s up? I just finished my TOEFL class….
• What’s shaking? Did you hear? There is an afterschool trip today….
• What’s new? I’m going to sign up for another month of lessons…. 

Now, you have also heard the “how” greeting questions, haven’t you? Here are some common examples:

• How are you?
• How’s it going?
• How’s everything?

When you respond to a “how” question in a greeting, you generally answer something that reflects how you feel.

• How are you? Fine thanks, and you?
• How’s it going? Great! How are you doing?
• How’s everything? Pretty good thanks, and you?

Be Careful! Don’t mix up the replies to the “how” and “what” questions. Doing so is quite common and you can take your English to the next level by listening carefully to the question word and remember this:

The reply to “how” is a feeling. The reply to “what” is news.

So, for example, this sounds strange for a native English speaker….

Brian: Hi Peter! What’s up?
Peter: Fine thanks.

Peter should not reply using a feeling. Instead, he should reply with some news. Here’s an example:

Brian: Hi Peter! What’s up?
Peter: I just finished lunch.

So, spend some time practicing this, and more importantly, pay attention to native English speakers when they greet each other.