Introductions, greetings and goodbyes

          When do people in Britain shake hands?          

Usually, people in Britain only shake hands when they meet for the first time or when they meet again after a long time.
They shake hands and say How do you do? or Pleased to meet you". How do you do? is not really a question, it just means Hello.

          What do you say in English when you do not hear a person's name?          

I'm sorry, I did not hear your name. Could you repeat, please?

         When do you say Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening, Good night?           

Good morning (before lunch), Good afternoon (from lunch to 6 p.m.), Good evening (after dinner, after 6 p.m.) are greetings. We say Good night to say goodbye/end a conversation at night.


                                            Formal to informal greetings and introductions                                             
                                                                                               First meetings                                                                                               
Introducing yourself
(FORMAL) How do you do? My name is Mrs Brown.
Hello, Kate Green. I'm a sales manager.
Introducing others
(FORMAL) Mrs Hand, may I introduce my boss, Mr Peterson.
Lucy, I'd like you to meet John Green, our salesman. John, this is Lucy.
Responding to an introduction
(FORMAL) Pleased to meet you Mrs McCarthy.
Pleased to meet you Lucy.
Hi, Lucy. How are you?
On leaving
(FORMAL) Goodbye. It's a pleasure to have met you.
Goodbye. Nice to have met you.
Bye. It was nice to meet you.

                                                                                         Subsequent meetings                                                                                           
possible greetings  -->   possible responses 
(from FORMAL)

Hello, Mrs Green. It's nice to see you again.    -->     What a pleasant surprise! How are you? It's been a while. 

Good morning Mrs Green. How are you today?     -->      I'm very well thank you. And you?
Good afternoon, Mrs Brown. It's good to see you.     -->      Thank you. It's nice to see you too. How are you?
Hello Lucy. How are you doing?     -->      Fine thanks. What's new with you?
Hi, Lucy! How's it going?     -->      Not too bad, busy as ever.
Hi, Lucy. How are things?     -->      Oh fine. You know how it is.
(to INFORMAL)

On first meeting say, "It's nice to meet you", and when departing "It was nice to meet you". 

For future meetings say, "It's nice to see you again", and when departing, "It was nice to see you again."

Opracowano na podstawie strony www.learnenglish.de