ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two central tenets of CA – sequence and preference. The sequences the author discusses are question–answer pairs (also showing how they can be used to lock (or bind) multiple two-part sequences together into larger units). The preferences he discusses are those for agreement and contiguity in conversation. The chapter gives some background which will let the reader understand something about the name of what we do: sequential analysis of conversation. We are in the first instance interested in the social organisation of interaction and, insofar as we are talking about natural interaction, sequences are the most natural sorts of objects to be studying. Any member of any culture knows about whole bunches of those sequences with regard to the organisation of conversation. Conversations often, overwhelmingly, begin with greeting exchanges, and those, for two parties, are little two-unit things.
