(Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/friends-male-men-outside-winter-1209740/ )

Conversations abound; it may be the most favored form of communication. It is easy to think that when you are sitting or standing face to face that miscommunication could not happen. But in reality, it happens more than you might think.

Read the following dialogue.

Sally: I am trying to decide what to wear to the prom. (cat jumps in her lap)

Mary: Do what?. (playing with the cat)

Sally: A dress for the prom. I need to make a decision.

Mary: Yeah. I'm wearing my blue dress from last year.

Sally: Mary, are you even paying attention?

There appears to be a rather poor communication effort indicated in the dialogue. The dialogue reflects a conversation of sorts, an interruption of the cat, and a distracted receiver. In a graphic, it might look like this.

Now try your hand at it.

Read the following dialogue.

“So, Jeff. Tell me about yourself. How old are you?”

“Eighteen," (muffled by a siren from a fire truck) replies Seth.

“What are your plans after graduating?” (bell rings to change class)

“Well, there goes the bell. Gotta run.”

“Wait a minute. We should finish our conversation.”

“Adios.”

Answers to the analysis of the dialogue