“How are you?” is a nice question. It’s a 21 way that people in the United States greet each other, but when a person says “How are you?” he expects 22 the answers “fine”, even if the person’s friend isn’t fine. The reason is that “How are you?” isn’t really a question, and “Fine” isn’t 23 an answer. They are common ways of saying “hello” and “hi”. Sometimes people also don’t say exactly what they 24 . For example, when someone asks, “Do you agree?” the other person may be thinking. “No, I don’t agree. I think you are 25 .”But it doesn’t sound very 26 , so he may say, “I’m not sure.” It’s a nicer way to say that you don’t agree with someone. People also don’t say exactly what they are thinking. For example, when a person wants to finish 27 with other people on the phone, he may say “I have to go now”. Sometimes he often gives an excuse, “Someone is at the door”, “Something is burning” and so on. The excuse may be 28 , or it may not. It’s a polite way to 29 a conversation and it doesn’t hurt the other person’s feeling. It’s an 30 way that people try to be nice to each other, and it’s a part of the game of language.