Conversational Success:
For a conversation to be successful, in most social contexts, the participants need to feel they are contributing something to it and are getting something out of it.
For this to happen, certain conditions must apply:
*Everyone must have an opportunity to speak: no one should be monopolizing or constantly interrupting.
*The participants need to make their roles clear especially if there are several possibilities (e.g. ‘speaking as a mother / linguist / a teacher, a doctor ...etc.)
*they need to have a sense of when to speak or stay silent; when to proffer information or hold it back; and when to stay aloof or become involved.
*they need to develop a mutual tolerance, to allow for speaker unclarity and listener inattention; perfect expression and comprehension are rare, and the success of a dialogue largely depends on: *people recognizing their communicative weaknesses through the use of rephrasing: “let me put it in another way” and clarification: “are you with me?”
There is a great deal of ritual in conversation, especially at the beginning and end, and when topics change. For example, people cannot simply leave a conversation at any random point, unless they wish to be considered socially inept or ill -mannered. They have to choose their point of departure (such as the moment when a topic changes) or construct a special reason for leaving.
Routines for concluding a conversation are particularly complex and cooperation if it is not to end abruptly, or in an embarrassing silence.
The parties may prepare for their departure a long way in advance, such as by looking at their watches or giving a verbal early warning. A widespread convention is for visitors to say they must leave sometime before they actually intend to depart, and for the hosts to ignore the remark. The second mention then permits both parties to act.