王毅：中国大陆地区唯一雅思总分满分得主，新航道英语测试研究中心主任，北京新航道学校雅思阅读主讲
Thankyou may be the most useful word in the Englishlanguage. There are many ways to say thankyou; this section gives you the most common. Sometimes language learnersare confused about when to use the word thank
and when to use thanks. It may helpto understand that thank you is shortfor I thank you, which uses the firstperson singular form of the verb to thank.In most other expressions, the word is thanks,
a plural noun. There are lots of common and acceptable responses to thanks, shown in the next section。
Thanksa million。
Thanksa bunch。
Thanksa lot。
Thanksmuch (or loads)。
Manythanks。
Ican’t thank you enough。
A related expression is I owe you one, which is an informal wayto say “I must repay your kindness。” Here are some examples:
Thanks for all your help. I owe you one.I owe you one for loaning me your car。
When someone says Thank you, the standard response is You’re welcome. You’re most welcome is a more formal version. Veryoften, however, people use other responses to thank you, from the very formal Thepleasure was all mine! To the slangy Nosweat。
The expressions that follow are common waysof saying You’re welcome, though eachhas its specific implication, as indicated:
(Itwas) my pleasure: means “It gave me pleasure to doit”
Anytime:
means “Ask me for help anytime”
Sure:
slangy, familiar
Noproblem: means “It caused me no problem”
Notat all: means “It’s not necessary to thank me atall; it was not a problem for me at all”
Nosweat: slangy; means “I didn’t sweat or becomeoverworked by helping”
It’snothing: means “It was like doing nothing: it waseasy”
Don’tworry about it: means “Don’t feel uncomfortablebecause you asked for help; don’t worry about repaying me”
Don’tmention it: means “No need to thank me; no need toeven mention it。”
Forget(about) it: slightly harsh; means “I don’t want tobe thanked”
In American culture where self-sufficiencyis highly valued, saying something like Itwas no trouble may save face or possible embarrassment for the person whoreceived something or requested help。
