Asking someone how they are upon meeting is one of the common things we all do. It is the typical yet best phrase to strike a conversation. Maybe that’s why there are so many ways to ask them about their well-being. The common one is how are you and it is used in a wide range, to be honest. Even you whom I don’t know must have used this at least once, right?
Then there are How are you guys? How are you all doing? How do you do? How is everything at your end? There are still many examples left like this. However, the reason why we have started this discussion is to find whether “how are you all doing?” is correct or not.
Is ‘How are you all doing’ right?
When you ask one his/her well-being, you just say How are you or How are you doing? But when there are more than one or several people, you won’t possibly start saying how are you to them individually. It won’t go like, “How are you, John?” “How are you, Miley?” “How are you, mother?” and still going on and on. This sounds both grammatically and rationally awkward and just not the right thing.
That’s when “How are you all doing” comes in. This line is used for plural purposes. Suppose, you and two of your friends had an appointment together. You went there finding they already reached before you. You casually walk to them saying How are you all doing? That’s the correct use. We said two persons apart from you since that’s the minimum number of people on whom this can be applied. The more people are there, it does not matter if it exceeds the bare minimum.
Some people just say “How are ya’ll doing?” It is not wrong. It is just more of a casual way of saying How are you all doing? Especially the native English speakers talk contracting their sentences. Many even say “How ya’ll doing?” It does not matter if they can express what they want to say.
How to reply to “How are you all doing?”
You all are in a group talking or doing some work and someone then walks up to you guys saying, “How are you all doing?” Let’s suppose you don’t know how to reply to this plural form of asking? Will you reply in plural or singular? Let us give you a life-saving tip if you don’t want to lose face before them.
How are you all doing? Particularly means the inquirer wanted to know about your well-being but asking that individually is not the right way. That does not mean you can or have to answer all of their response. You don’t know how the person next to you is feeling or going through, right? You just need to respond about yourself.
That way you can say, “Fine, Thanks, and you?” This means you should answer the way when someone personally inquires about how you are. It’s as simple as that.
Alternatives of How are you all doing?
Since we have said, there are numerous ways to ask someone about how they are. When asked “How are you all doing?” there are many alternatives you can use to this. Let’s see some of them.
- How are you guys doing?
- What’s up, guys?
- Are ya’ll doing fine?
- How you guys have been doing?
- Is everything going well for you all?
- How are things going?
- How is everything?
You can use various of them rather than using the same typical one. This will improve your impression of others and also you can get confidence over these things gradually.