student asking question

What does RSVP mean? And why so many abbreviations?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Good question! "RSVP" is an acronym of the French phrase "répondez s'il vous plaît," which means "please reply." It's too long to say/write out each time, so it has been shortened in this way. RSVP is used to request that someone respond to an invitation to an event. Ex: Did you RSVP to the party I'm hosting this weekend? Ex: I sent out 20 invites, and I got 18 RSVPs back.

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