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Learn How to Keep the Conversation Going

I’m sure you’ve had this experience before. You’re at a party, at school, or at a family event. You’re talking to someone and then you start to have nothing to talk about. It can be a bad feeling, and I know that it most definitely makes me nervous.

#1: Go Back to an Earlier Topic to Keep the Conversation Going

If your conversation is dying, you can keep the conversation going by returning to an earlier topic. You can say, “Earlier, you said _____. Tell me more about that.” This lets the listener know that you are a good listener and interested in what they have to say.

#2: Give Some Details to Continue a Conversation

Expand what you say by giving details, rather than just a short, direct answer to a question. For example, if someone asks you about your vacation, don’t say, “It was great!” and leave it at that.

Tell them a few highlights. “It was great! I hadn’t seen my family in a year, so I spent most of my time catching up with everyone.” This isn’t so long that someone who isn’t interested will get bored, and it opens up new areas for questions if the listener wants to know more.

Just remember, nobody likes to listen to someone who is only talking about themselves. Give your conversation partner 1-2 details and then leave it to the other person to follow up on that if they’d like to. This is a great tip for how to keep a conversation going so give it a try.

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#3: Offer Some Examples

Support what you say with details and examples. Just as in writing, you sometimes need to “prove” what you say. You can use phrases in speaking that you use in writing. Some examples include:

#4: Summarize the Main Points, A Good Way to Keep Conversations Going

Summarizing what you hear is a great way to confirm your understanding of the conversation. This is something native speakers do, especially at work or if some type of commitment is being made.

This short sentence checks several details: the report will be emailed, not printed; the due date this Friday, not next Friday; and you have until the end of the day to complete it. If anything in your summary is incorrect, the listener should correct you, “Oh, don’t rush; you have until Monday to finish it.”

#5: Ask Open-Ended Questions to Maintain a Conversation

One of the best ways to maintain a conversation is to ask open-ended questions. A closed-ended question has a yes/no answer and can be a quick way to end a conversation! For example:

#6: Look Interested and use Good Body Language

If you want to know how to continue conversations, then you’ll definitely need to use good body language. Look interested in what the other person is talking about. If they sense that you aren’t interested in what you’re saying, the convo will go nowhere.

Use good body language. Have an open stance (no crossed arms), a good amount of eye contact and a friendly smile while you’re talking. Don’t look around the room, like you’re looking for another conversation partner. Focus on the person that you’re talking to.

how to maintain a conversation

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Ask open-ended questions

Open-ended questions encourage people to open up and share some details about themselves. This can make it easier to keep a conversation going. You don’t have to use open questions all the time, but they are often useful.

You’re more likely to get an interesting answer if you ask an open-ended question like, “I’m curious; What do you like to do in your free time?” If you were to ask this question, the other person would have an opportunity to talk about their hobbies and interests in depth. You could end up talking about lots of different things, depending on what they like to do.

Closed questions aren’t always bad. Try pairing a closed question with an open follow-up question. For example, if someone says “Yes” when you ask them whether they like video games, you could then say, “What kind of games do you like to play?”

Avoid giving dry, short answers

For example, let’s say that someone asks you, “What’s your favorite thing to eat?” If you said “Sushi,” you’ve answered their question, but you are still forcing them to do all the work to keep the conversation going.

They might seem like low-effort questions, but “How was your day?” or “What did you do today?” can keep a conversation going. Just don’t make a habit of falling back on these questions whenever you can’t think of anything else to talk about, because you might come across as lazy.

To make these questions more interesting, try telling the other person something positive or entertaining about your day first. For example, instead of saying, “So did you have a good day at work?” you could say, “So how was your day? I managed to fix the photocopier single-handed! I’m still feeling proud :)”

More Ways To Get The Girl

When you’re really looking to get a girl, you know there’s more to it than just how to keep a conversation going with a girl. To get the whole process, read these articles as well:

Knowing how to keep a conversation going with a girl is perhaps not quite as easy as just shouting “will you be my girlfriend,” but it is fairly simple if you know a few simple steps to do it.

The road to how to get a girlfriend runs straight through learning how to talk to girls, so this is about as important a set of steps to learn as possible. Besides, following these steps makes the whole process so much more fun. You’ll be able to stop stressing about how to keep a conversation going with a girl and just enjoy it for a change.

Resource:

https://eslspeaking.org/ways-to-keep-conversation-going/
https://socialself.com/blog/keep-text-conversation-going/
https://www.mantelligence.com/how-to-keep-a-conversation-going-with-a-girl/

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