8 Creative Ways to Answer How Are You in English
oh great tie everybody welcome back to
our weekly live stream my name is Alisha
and this week we’re going to talk about
responding to greetings creatively
creatively so the goal for today’s live
lesson is to give you some ideas to help
you go from like how are you good how
are you not bad to giving like a more
creative response so today I’m gonna
introduce a few like common greetings
during the day and at night and I’m
going to share some ideas just a few
ideas for how you can respond more
creatively like to be more personal so
if you have ideas during the lesson
please send your ideas in the chat I’m
also going to in for a couple I’ll break
down some grammar points inside these
creative answers so we’re going to start
in a couple of minutes as you join
please make sure to like and share the
video and send a message in the chat I
see Facebook and YouTube are up hi
Facebook guilhom and Cesar Lila be gem
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hello everybody Lonny hi everybody
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hi thank you very much for joining us
again this week as I said this week’s
topic is responding to greetings
creatively so in part one of today’s
lesson I’m going to talk about actually
part 1 and part 2 about greetings that
are common during the day and in the
last part of today’s lesson I’ll talk
about like past tense greetings
so like greetings you might hear at the
end of the
day and past tense responses but today
we’re going to focus on like more
creative personalized ways to say hello
so we’ll give a couple more minutes
maybe one or two more minutes for people
to join as always please don’t forget to
check out the free stuff that we have
every week from the link below the video
on youtube or above the video on
Facebook we have lots and lots of free
pdf lessons with vocabulary and phrases
these are great if you are a beginner
student or just want to refresh there
are many topics so please check the link
from our side I have one thing I wanted
to share I tweeted about there’s a new
episode of know your verbs if you have
not seen the know your verbs series in
each episode I focus on one verb and I
talk about different ways to use the
verb so the verb set has a lot of
different meanings that’s the focus verb
for this new episode of know your verbs
so please check the English class 101
YouTube channel to watch this video
there are many people who have seen this
already I was really surprised and lots
of good example sentences in the
comments from you all as well so please
check out the new episode of know your
verbs I hope that it’s helpful for you
alright with that I’m going to get
started with this week’s lesson I’m
going to share the video and then I’m
going to begin so again as I said please
make sure to send your ideas in the chat
throughout the lesson so if you have an
idea for a response if you have an idea
for how to answer one of these greetings
please send it in the chat and we can
take a look I’ll try to check as many as
possible as always but sometimes there
are many people in the chat so it’s hard
to see everything okay I will
oh I will share and be
so today we’re gonna talk first about
the greeting how are you how are you how
are you can be used at any time of day
of course but I’m going to focus for now
on like greetings maybe in the morning
or maybe with someone you haven’t seen
for a while how are you
basic responses - how are you are good
fine
not so good those kinds of greetings
those one-word greetings those are great
you can totally use those no problem
they are fine they are correct
and they are natural to use but if you
want to maybe try to be a little funny
or if you want to be more personal about
your response these are a few ways to do
that so I’m going to explain these and
talk a little bit about the grammar -
the first one here is hanging in there
hanging in there so here one point we
will see this point throughout today’s
lesson actually this hang in this is
actually an ing word hanging hanging but
in casual speech we drop the final G
sound and it sounds like hanging hanging
so you’ll often see this with like an
apostrophe
so this apostrophe means it’s like a
rough or short sound hanging instead of
hanging so hanging in there sounds like
maybe I have some challenges in my life
or I’ve had some trouble maybe but I’m
okay like it’s maybe been a really busy
week or I have a lot of homework I have
a lot of work to do but I’m doing my
best I’m hanging in there it sounds a
little a little bit like there’s some
trouble but you’re okay so how are you
hanging in there that’s the like the
voice we would use how are you hanging
in there that’s how we would use this
Bonz teach us how to respond angrily
okay try though to a greeting I’m not
sure we’ll see we’ll see
let’s look though at this next one if
you are feeling sick if you’re feeling
sick you have a cold or you’re very
tired or you’re maybe upset usually
though we use this next one when we feel
sick this is common for feeling sick and
in very casual situation so don’t use
this with your boss or someone above you
the expression is I feel like death I
feel like death so this is a
pronunciation point death so don’t
pronounce this as deaths with an S sound
death death I feel like death so death
death is a concept yes so means like
something dying yes but to say you I
personally I feel like death it shows
like my physical condition right now is
so bad it’s just really really terrible
I feel awful
when we want to express that like it’s
like dying but it’s a little bit funny
and and quite casual you can say I feel
like death I feel like death so again
this is not a very positive phrase no
and there are some other phrases more
kind of rude words we can use here I
feel like something I can’t talk about
them on this channel but you can use
some more rude words here in in place of
death to describe your sick feelings so
I feel like garbage you could say I feel
like trash you could use that do okay so
this is one you can use when you feel
sick very sick someone wrote I feel like
death warmed over a nice one nice one
death warmed over so like slightly
recovering from death yeah on Facebook
NEPA porn said I’m feeling sick yes
you can use that I’m feeling sick okay
on to the next one the next one an
important grammar point here is I’ve
been better
so the answer I’m sorry how are you the
response I’ve been better
or you will often hear native speakers
drop I’ve we say been better so the
conversation sounds like how are you
I’ve been better been better which means
I’ve been better
so I’ve this is the reduced form of I
have I have been better so what does
this mean
better better is the comparative form
but what are we comparing here so this
means I’ve been better than this or
better than better than I am now so this
means my condition now is not so good in
the past I have been better than I am in
this moment so in the past my condition
was better than now my condition now is
not good
I’ve been better but we often drop I’ve
how are you I’ve been better
so this this is not a good thing this is
a negative one actually been better
Josie says can I use it could be better
up close you can say I could be better
I could be better so how are you the
question is about you your condition I
could be better
so the subject here is I in these cases
okay another one are sorry another
person wrote I’ve seen better days yeah
yeah yeah I’ve seen better days it’s
good I’m well yes is nice I’ve been
hungry interesting I’ve been hungry
that’s a pretty good one so the reason
why I laughed control just laugh did
I’ve been hungry and you say I’ve been
hungry it sounds like maybe starting
earlier in the
day or the day before you started being
hungry and you’re hungry hungry hungry
hungry hungry until this moment so it
sounds like maybe you didn’t eat for
some reason so if someone says if you
say I’ve been hungry someone will
probably laugh like we just did so
that’s what it means that’s why we left
so it’s not incorrect not incorrect but
it sounds a little bit funny okay let’s
go on to the next one someone used could
hear so this is I could use a coffee I
could use a coffee so I’ve chosen coffee
for my example sentence because I like
coffee and when I feel like low energy I
usually I want coffee so you can replace
coffee here with whatever makes you feel
good like I could use an energy drink or
I could use some chocolate or I could
use some tea whatever it is that makes
you feel good and that’s socially
appropriate to talk about you can put
that here so how are you I could use a
coffee so the idea here is my energy is
a little low if I have this thing I
would be happier it would be good I
would be like in a better condition yeah
yeah Arturo hi Arturo says I feel better
then I did early in the morning I feel
better than I did early in the morning
yeah so I could use a coffee or I could
use some chocolate whatever your thing
is you can replace it here someone wrote
I could use chai perfect nice one DK
eighteen mmm I don’t see comments on
Facebook water yeah water is good I
could use some water good okay someone I
feel like death okay all right nice nice
okay I’ve got it
I could use a tequila says dude be
careful be careful if you’re gonna use
alcohol in this
correct yeah but I’ll talk about this
later using that is more common at the
end of the day if you use I could use a
tequila at like 9:00 in the morning it’s
probably not gonna miss probably not a
good idea so this is one be careful what
you choose and consider the time of day
I could use some chicken your answers
are very creative everybody I like it I
like it okay let’s move along to the
next one here and if you have ideas
please send them along ah someone wrote
Abdul wrote I could use a cup of joe cup
of joe is a slang expression cup of joe
cup of joe means coffee so joe is a
slang word for coffee cup of joe means
cup of coffee nice one okay let’s go on
to this last one which is simply alive
alive how are you alive so it’s just
very neutral how are you alive so it’s
just I’m here I’m like existing I’m
continuing I’m alive so it’s just a very
like neutral there’s not really a
positive it’s not a negative you could
use your voice to like if you feel bad
you could say alive
and it sounds kind of negative if you
use positive like a positive voice how
are you alive like it sounds a little
more excited so you can use alive as
well a very simple response so maybe
these maybe this one for feeling sick
you can make your own statement here
we’re placing death with your feeling or
you could explain what you want with
this pattern okay other things yeah lots
of people said I could use some coffee
great great great I could use a tea nice
okay
so let’s move on to the second question
the second type of greeting I talked
about how are you we can use these let’s
talk about what’s up what’s up how do we
respond to what’s up so basic response
- what’s up are just not much nothing
that’s it what’s up not much what’s up
nothing other responses there are a lot
of ways to respond to this you can use
this one this is a very common response
that’s very natural it’s same old same
old same old same old we say this twice
yes it sounds strange I know what’s up
same old same old so this means same old
stuff the same old things in my life
that’s what’s up that’s what I’m doing
that’s my news
same old job same old news whatever same
old same old and we use that intonation
what’s up
same old same old so you can use that if
nothing has changed nothing is new just
the same thing as always same old same
oh good some lots of people are writing
nothing much not too much not much good
good so those are basic responses -
what’s up yes you can absolutely use
those not much yeah poor hang on
Facebook wrote this ceiling the ceiling
yes we are going to talk about such
creative responses later so I’ll come
back to this in just a moment nice one
Jorge this is a this is a common school
child joke let’s go back to here for a
second though what’s up
some people will respond to this
question with a recent news topic
actually so like what’s up president
Trump’s new speech something like that
or what’s up like the price of tea in
China or something I don’t know so some
people will use a recent news topic they
are interested in to respond to this so
what’s a news topic like a really quick
like introduction to the news topic you
can do this if there’s something you are
interested in and it’s appropriate for
the people you’re talking to you could
use a recent news
topic to respond to this what’s up
what’s a good recent news topic what’s
up the Academy Awards yeah I don’t know
so I personally don’t really like this
one I don’t use this one very much but
some people do choose to use this yeah
the price of tea in China okay good so
let’s move on to Jorge on Facebook had a
great another example of this some
people like to make a joke about this
question so this question if we
understand this question directly what’s
up like actually what is above you
what’s up so of course we know what’s up
means how are you but some people
especially children like to make a joke
and respond with something above us so
for example what’s up the sky or what’s
up the ceiling so ceiling means like the
top the top of a room so the ceiling the
ceiling what’s up the sky what’s up the
ceiling so if there’s something above
you you could say what’s up a lamp that
kind of joke it’s a small joke so I
don’t recommend using this with adults
you can use this with like close friends
when I say adults I mean like your
co-workers or your colleagues you don’t
have to do that all right
last points for this part this one it
says here company stock prices what’s up
company stock prices I’ve heard this now
and then from people who are interested
in business finance investing so for
example like Apple Apple is a company so
if someone says what’s up Apple stock
prices so stock prices refers to so
stock is like the part of a company that
you can buy so that people can buy so
stock prices if they are up so that
shows there was a an increase in the
company’s value so what’s up Apple stock
prices I sometimes hear this from people
like business
and financial investment related work so
those kinds of industries I’ve sometimes
heard this finally a final joke here
some people use their health condition
in response to this so what’s up this is
one example like my cholesterol so don’t
worry about this word cholesterol is a
word again relating to your health
condition cholesterol is the mmm it’s
like the stuff that collects inside your
body like it’s it’s bad stuff that
collects inside your body like fatty
oily stuff causes it inside your veins
yeah that’s more specific your veins
veins are the parts of your body that
carry blood to and from other parts of
your body so cholesterol inside your
body is a bad thing if your cholesterol
is up that’s bad so like what’s up my
cholesterol so some people like to make
a joke with their health condition here
okay wow that was a long talk holy cow
I’m gonna take a break uh I will take a
break yes right now so thanks very much
for sending all your questions but as
always we do have free stuff I want to
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chose well I just want to introduce a
lot of the different topics that I don’t
always talk about here but today we’re
talking about this like greetings topic
kind of some basic review so if you are
looking for some things to help you
refresh your vocabulary
um basic topics so this one’s about like
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know many people are interested in music
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talked about recently if there’s
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thank you if there’s a gap that you have
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forget to that okay so with that let’s
move on quickly Wow to the next two
parts I might have to go quickly
I’m gonna talk about two more questions
for today’s lesson
so again if you’re just joining please
make sure to like and share the video
and send your examples into the chat as
well so let’s move on to the next part
the next part is this question what have
you been up to what have you been up to
more naturally at native pace we say
what have you been up to what have you
been up to possible answers to this
question we can use creatively just plus
a crazy idea or a crazy like plan or
something and then no big deal 10 so
here’s an example of this just planning
to take over the world no big deal okay
so what does this mean why would we say
this when we don’t have any special news
to share but we want to make a joke we
want to say something funny but we don’t
have anything special to share we might
just give like some crazy idea just for
fun so here just planning so this is the
progressive form planning to take over
the world take over the world means like
to be like the master of the world
so it sound
like you you have an evil or a bad plan
just planning to take over the world
this expression no big deal no big deal
means it’s just a small thing so this is
a common style of joke we’re using just
at the beginning here to show it’s not a
big plan but this in the middle is a big
plan like taking over the world the
entire world so this is a small like
kind of funny joke style response so
work this part the beginning and the end
sound like that’s not so big it’s not a
big plan the middle part is a big plan
though so this contrast this imbalance
is there’s no balance here we we use
this imbalance to make something sound a
little bit funny it’s not super funny
but it’s just kind of a humorous answer
what have you been up to
I’m planning to take over the world no
big deal so in this answer we see this
part ing this progressive form will use
this progressive form to answer this
type of question quite a lot so I’ve got
this in the the second example here to
what have you been up to so this
question by the way this question means
like like is about your recent
activities so we use this in the
progressive because we’re talking about
something that started in the past and
that we we’ve done like it’s been a
continuous activity until this
conversation so for example work in
hanging out sleeping a lot you know you
know we end sentences with you know when
we understand the other person knows
like our what we’re talking about you
know like you understand right so again
as I talked about at the beginning of
the lesson this working is like the
rougher form of working working so
instead of working hanging out sleeping
a lot we’ll drop that G sound is a work
in hanging out
sleeping a lot so it sounds more natural
at least in American English to connect
these ideas together so I’ve been
working I’ve been hanging out I have
been sleeping a lot so there are three
activities all in the progressive tense
in answer to this what have you been up
to
we’re kin hanging out sleeping a lot
other things so I know many of you have
different different hobbies I have one
friend who is very still
we’re still very into Pokemon go this is
true not you no not you I have one
friend who’s still very into Pokemon gum
if I asked him this question what have
you been up to you could say catchin
Pokemon no actually not him no you see
but catch is he catching pokémon catch
of Pokemon so if you like to play a
Pokemon go or something like that or a
different game you could say catchin
Pokemon what have you been up to and
catching pokémon he he has given me this
response this is a true response from an
adult he is 36 years old okay then one
more for those of you who like watching
TV shows and movies on Netflix and Hulu
HBO whatever you watch binge watching
Netflix shows I’ve spoken about this
expression before to binge watch to
binge watch means to watch a lot of TV
or a lot of movies like in one weekend
earn one nighter in one day you just
watch like all of the shows in once in
one like TV show binge watching again
progressive binge watching Netflix shows
binge watching Netflix shows someone
says watch and learn English free thanks
for watching I’ve been watching English
videos on the internet that’s great
that’s great it’s so maybe if you want
to you could say that what have you been
up to
watching English videos on the internet
I think that’s good for like if you’re
talking about one day’s activity
like what did you do today that kind of
thing it’s okay but I would use more
general answers if you’re talking about
a longer period of time like a week or
like a month or something but okay let’s
continue to the last points of last the
last points for today I’m going to talk
a bit about greetings at the end of the
day now so when you have finished work
or you finish your studies for the day
you might hear this past tense greeting
so you come home to your family members
or you meet your roommates or something
like that
and they ask this question this greeting
at the end of the day how was your day
how was your day so please note how are
you present tense
now how was your day so note first past
tense how was your day then is the
question not how were you today how was
your day so your answer should be about
what you did that day what did you do
what is your opinion of that day answers
sample answers someone said earlier I
could use a tequila this is a better
time of day to respond with an alcohol
related question I’m ready for a beer or
more generally I’m ready for a drink so
depending on your voice you can make a
positive or a negative feeling here how
was your day I’m ready for a drink like
it sounds like it maybe it was a
challenging day but you’re ready to be
finished I’m ready for a drink I’m ready
for a beer someone says it was boring
fine great good answer good answer
it was great to someone else nice good
good good it was a wonderful day good I
was very busy
nice lots of good ones yeah okay check
the chats check the chat there are lots
of good answers for many people and
they’re one very quickly long-long how
was your day long so this sounds very
tired so you had a long shift at work or
you had a lot of studying to do
how was your day long so this means my
day was long but we usually say long
just a simple quick response okay
how was your day long okay how was your
day I’m ready for my bed yeah great one
great one so I’m ready for bed you could
use bed here so I’ve chosen so this is a
very common response I’m ready for a
beer or I’m ready for a drink you could
use this I’m ready for bed too
I’m ready for bed I’m ready for sleep as
well you could use that too nice then on
to it’s been a long day good be good
okay on to next one how was your day
it was a day so it was one day in other
words it was a day I’m glad it’s over so
over means finished here it was a day so
that means nothing special just one day
it was a day I’m glad it’s over
I’m or I’m happy it’s over is also okay
it was boring good awesome one Sofia on
YouTube wrote I’m ready for a bath yeah
great I’m ready for up back is break -
nice nice ideas thank you
oh I’m ready for some basketball nice
yeah if you like to play sports at the
end of the day great great you can
include that in this I’m ready for some
basketball so you could use that at the
end of the week - great someone says I’m
ready to like this video thank you okay
let’s finish then quickly with the last
two expressions some of you have written
about being busy during the day this is
a very detailed way to explain that you
are busy or that your day was busy here
how was your day so busy I
didn’t have time to eat lunch so busy I
didn’t have time to eat lunch so my day
was so busy I didn’t past tense I didn’t
have time to eat lunch so this is a very
specific way to answer to describe how
busy was the day so busy I didn’t have
time to eat lunch
finally a positive one I want to end on
a positive note today how was your day
it was awesome I have good news
it was awesome awesome is a word that
means very very very very very good so
it was super it was fantastic this is a
very positive way to talk about your day
so maybe you got a raise you got a
promotion you passed a test you received
an award you had some good feedback you
had a good day you can explain that with
it was awesome I have good news and you
can share that good news then - nice
lots of good examples - I so busy I
didn’t have time to watch TV
good my day was great so I’m very happy
excellent excellent
Alejandro said I am ready to catch some
Z’s yeah I’m ready
I’ve used for here before a simple noun
phrase I’m ready I’m ready
I’ll put it up here to catch some Z’s
Z’s what are these z we use the letter Z
because it sounds kind of like a person
snoring snoring is the loud sound people
make some people make when they sleep
and so we use Z’s to show that sound so
when I when we say I’m ready for some
Z’s it means like I’m ready for sleep
I’m ready for sleep okay um I think oh
I’m very late so I’m going to finish
there for today so thank you for all of
your example sentences I’m going to wrap
up this lesson but as I said before
please make sure to take a look
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out alright I have to finish there for
today so thank you as always for joining
us for our live lesson next week we will
be back at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
on Wednesday what’s the date it’s March
13th thank you March 13th Wednesday
March 13th I’m going to talk about how
to learn English without a teacher so
I’ve been noticing many comments about
learning alone studying alone so I
talked about this a little in January
making plans but I’ll talk about this a
little bit more next week so if you need
some ideas for studying alone please
join us again next week for that lesson
March 13th 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
New York City time if you don’t know
your local time please Google
so we’ll finish there for today thank
you as always for liking the video and
for sharing the video and for sending
your comments and questions throughout
the lesson enjoy the rest of your day
enjoy the rest of your week and I will
see you again next time bye bye
you