In-Depth Tips from Dr English

What is a compliment? If you say something nice about someone, that’s a compliment. You can “pay someone a compliment” by telling them how nice their new hairstyle or dress is, for example.

How often do you pay a compliment to your work colleagues? We all like to receive positive comments about how we look, but how you do it is important. To avoid making someone feel uncomfortable in a business or work situation, men should generally only compliment men, and women should stick to complimenting other women. This is especially true when commenting on someone’s appearance or clothes.

If you are complimenting someone on their work, performance, etc., then it’s acceptable to compliment the opposite sex. But beware, people who compliment too often are seen as being “phony” or fake, which is not a good thing.

Here’s some useful language for different situations:

Men complimenting men (clothes)

Women complimenting women (clothes)

Women complimenting women (hair, figure)

Boss complimenting subordinate on job well done or performance

Colleagues complimenting colleagues on success

Responding to compliments