What is pragmatics?
Pragmatics is best described as our social skills; how we communicate with others both verbally and non verbally. It may be our body language, use of 'personal space', understanding figurative language (idioms & metaphors), and if we can start, maintain and end a conversation appropriately. Pragmatics involves three key communication skills:
- using language for different purposes
- changing language according to the needs of a situation or audience
- following conversational rules
This website has great information on pragmatics.