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Example 1

A: We don't need some employees at this company.

B: mm/hm/um huh/okay.

Does this only mean that B is paying attention, like saying "Okay, I am listening"?

Example 2

A: We don't need some employees at this company.

B: I agree/Yes/right.

Does this mean that B is also thinking that they don't need some employees at the company?

stangdon
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vincentlin
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    "Okay" can mean either "just listening" or "I agree". Everything else you're correct about. – gotube Nov 01 '22 at 04:40
  • Your second example seems to be a duplicate of https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/71446/how-to-answer-a-negative-question-in-english. – MarcInManhattan Nov 01 '22 at 05:35
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    "We don't need **any (more)** employees", to which B would reply "No (we don't)". – Kate Bunting Nov 01 '22 at 08:45
  • It depends on how they say it. You can say "okay" in a dubious way, where it means something like "I'm really not sure I agree but I won't argue", or you can say it in a super-positive way meaning "absolutely true". "Right" can mean "yes" or "stop there". "I agree" normally means what it says, but the rest depends on tone of voice. – Stuart F Nov 01 '22 at 09:54
  • This behavior is called [**backchanneling**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backchannel_(linguistics)), by the way. – stangdon Nov 01 '22 at 13:03

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