Informal Introductions

JIM: Who’s the tall woman next to Barbara?

CHARLES: That’s her friend Mary. Didn’t you meet her at Steve’s party?

JIM: No, I wasn’t at Steve’s party.

CHARLES: Oh! Then let me introduce you to her now. Mary, this is my friend Jim.

MARY: Hi, Jim. Nice to meet you.

JIM: You, too. Would you like a drink?

MARY: Sure, let’s go get one.

LANGUAGE NOTES

•  “Who’s” is the contracted form of who is. It is pronounced the same way as “whose” (/ huwz/), but the meaning is different.

•  Didn’t you meet her …? Notice that this is a negative question. Charles thought that Jim had met Mary before. He is now surprised that Jim does not know Mary, and so he uses a negative question to show his surprise.

•  I wasn’t at Steve’s party. Notice that the emphasis here is on “at” although prepositions normally have weak stress. In this case, “at” means “there” (I wasn’t there).

•  Mary, this is my friend Jim.  This is a friendly way to introduce two people. It’s common to follow this with “Jim, this is Mary.” In this case, Mary says “Hi, Jim” first.

•  Nice to meet you. This is a typical response after you’ve been introduced to someone.

•  “Sure” is often used in informal conversation to mean “yes.”