Pragmatics

Pragmatics is the study of how people use language in particular situations. It looks at the different ways words and phrases can be used and what kind of message those words and phrases convey. For example, if someone says “I’m fine” but doesn’t sound very happy, you might think that they don’t really mean they’re “fine”. Pragmatics looks at how this happens, and why. Pragmatics helps us understand how language works in different contexts and it can be helpful in communication.