Clarifying questions are great ways to continue a conversation and get to know a person. Depends on what questions and how they are presented (though that is a caveat for almost all communication). “Does prep work and cleanup count” gets a discussion going and displays an interest in engagement.
Answering the favourite thing outright without expanding, or saying I’m not sure”, is like lobbing the convo back to the asker. It requires the other to try again. It can indicate disinterest, which in typical cases is a bad thing.
The answer to the question doesn’t matter as much as talking about things. Tomato soup is great, but the question is asked not for a correct but for a story/anecdote. “Tomato soup is a comfort food from childhood and I like Warhol’s painting of the soup cans, even though Campbell’s makes terrible soup and I most like this recipe I saw on a YouTube cooking channel.”
That can sound like a lot, but what’s been accomplished is you’ve provided the companion with multiple-choice options for conversation. (There is a limit to this, don’t want to fully infodump or seem only interested in talking about self.) Now the person can choose from several topics they are interested in.
tomato soup
comfort foods
art
producing things at scale decreasing quality over time
recipes
YouTube cooking videos
Make sure to limit responses to things you want to or are open to talking about. Introducing and then shutting down a topic can seem like disinterest. Once again it’s in how it’s handled but erring on the side of only bringing up things one is comfortable with helps at all levels of conversational experience.
Clarifying questions also add dialogue options. And the goal is to provide a few different jumping off points for the other to talk more. Or if things get quiet to introduce a topic with a question.
Just saying ‘tomato soup’ puts more work on the other, so making up for that by expanding on it, asking clarifying questions, having questions about different topics, segues, or other methods of keeping a discussion flowing should be used to show interest and get to know someone.
Clarifying questions are great ways to continue a conversation and get to know a person. Depends on what questions and how they are presented (though that is a caveat for almost all communication). “Does prep work and cleanup count” gets a discussion going and displays an interest in engagement.
Answering the favourite thing outright without expanding, or saying I’m not sure”, is like lobbing the convo back to the asker. It requires the other to try again. It can indicate disinterest, which in typical cases is a bad thing.
The answer to the question doesn’t matter as much as talking about things. Tomato soup is great, but the question is asked not for a correct but for a story/anecdote. “Tomato soup is a comfort food from childhood and I like Warhol’s painting of the soup cans, even though Campbell’s makes terrible soup and I most like this recipe I saw on a YouTube cooking channel.”
That can sound like a lot, but what’s been accomplished is you’ve provided the companion with multiple-choice options for conversation. (There is a limit to this, don’t want to fully infodump or seem only interested in talking about self.) Now the person can choose from several topics they are interested in.
Make sure to limit responses to things you want to or are open to talking about. Introducing and then shutting down a topic can seem like disinterest. Once again it’s in how it’s handled but erring on the side of only bringing up things one is comfortable with helps at all levels of conversational experience.
Clarifying questions also add dialogue options. And the goal is to provide a few different jumping off points for the other to talk more. Or if things get quiet to introduce a topic with a question.
Just saying ‘tomato soup’ puts more work on the other, so making up for that by expanding on it, asking clarifying questions, having questions about different topics, segues, or other methods of keeping a discussion flowing should be used to show interest and get to know someone.