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Learning & Performance Strategies

Invitation Sequences

What types of pragmatic strategies are used for extending and refusing an invitation?

In this section of the module, we will focus on the sociocultural and language strategies you can use to extend invitations and respond to invitations appropriately. While working through each of the different strategies, remember that they each work interactively in conversation, not in isolation.

This section is divided into two parts: Extending an Invitation & Refusing an Invitation. You may enter each section by clicking on its button below. After you have worked through both sections, you are then ready to move on to the next section by clicking on the button at the bottom of this page.

 


Extending an Invitation
Below is a list of strategies that you will be learning to use in order to extend an invitation appropriately.

  1. Downplaying the reason for a party is used in a number of ways.
  2. Insistence is an important part of extending an invitation.
  3. Recognizing the social context of the invitation sequence is critical.

Please click on the button below to learn more about each of these strategies.
 

Refusing an Invitation

Below is a list of strategies that you will be learning to use in order to refuse an invitation appropriately. These are not the only possibilities, but are some of the most common.

  1. Grounders (i.e., excuses or justifications) are a very common refusal strategy.
  2. Indirect refusals are acceptable as refusals. These can occur as: (a) explicit acceptance, or (b) mitigated acceptance.
  3. Other adjunct strategies are also used to maintain solidarity. These include: (a) indefinite replies, (b) willingness to try, and (c) future plans.

Please click on the button below to learn more about each of these strategies.

 

 
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