Question
22 May
- Russian
- Belarusian Near fluent
-
English (US)
Question about English (US)
What is the difference between to nod along and to nod ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
What is the difference between to nod along and to nod ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
- I said I was a lawyer.
- What'd you do when they found out??
- They never did. So if you ever see me giving them legal advice, just nod along.
If you agree, just nod.
Does nod along have anything to do with play along?
- What'd you do when they found out??
- They never did. So if you ever see me giving them legal advice, just nod along.
If you agree, just nod.
Does nod along have anything to do with play along?
Answers
Read more comments
- English (UK)
- English (US)
@nozhka
To nod – to nod your head once
To nod along – to continually nod your head, either in rhythm to something, or as a continual show of agreement with something.
Yes, you could say that the person is asking the other person to play along with his lie. If someone is speaking, and you see a lot of people nodding, it makes it look like there’s a lot of agreement, right?
Highly-rated answerer
- Russian
- Belarusian Near fluent
@isthmus_x Thank you. But what about 'Keep nodding as though I'm still giving orders.'? The action continues.
- English (UK)
- English (US)
@nozhka
I suppose so. I would need more contextual information.
It sounds like two people are playacting a pretense – one person is pretending to give orders, the other is pretending to acknowledge them. The person is saying – as long as we continue speaking like this, pretend that you are hearing and acknowledging my orders.
Highly-rated answerer
- Russian
- Belarusian Near fluent
@isthmus_x That's not what I am asking about. You said that to nod means to shake your head once, but to nod along means to nod continually. In this case, what's the difference between to nod along and to be (keep) nodding? We are talking about agreement.
- English (UK)
- English (US)
@nozhka
So, you want to know if – nodding – indicates more than one nod? Yes.
He nodded – he did it once
He was nodding – he did it at least twice
Highly-rated answerer
- Russian
- Belarusian Near fluent
@isthmus_x Not exactly. I don't understand what's the difference between 'to nod along' and 'to be nodding'.
Nevermind. Thank you so much!
Nevermind. Thank you so much!
- English (UK)
- English (US)
@nozhka
To nod along – to continually nod your head, either in rhythm to something, or as a continual show of agreement with something.
nodding – he did it at least twice
Highly-rated answerer
- English (US)
- Arabic
@nozhka To "nod along" is an expression, it usually means to pretend you are interested in a discussion, when really you aren't. For instance,
"Anna, I know you hate listening to James talk, but just nod along and let him think you're interested so he could just give us the tickets!"
"I don't believe in conspiracy theory, so when James rambled on about it, I was just nodding along until he finished and then I took off"
To be nodding, is just the action of nodding. "Кивать" or also "Клевать носом" (He was nodding cuz he wants to sleep).
- Russian
- Belarusian Near fluent
@Jullen спасибо!!! Клевать носом - nodding off 😴

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