This study examined the speech act of agreement and disagreement in the ordinary conversation of English-speakers in India. Data were collected in natural speech elicited from educated, bilingual speakers in cross-sex and same-sex conversations in a range of formal and informal settings. Subjects' ages ranged from 19 to about 60. Five agreement strategies were analyzed: (1) direct expression of agreement or stated agreement components; (2) building on the previous speaker's turn; (3) uttering partial and complete repetitions of components in the previous turn; (4) delaying; and (5) hedging. Four disagreement strategies were examined: (1) explicit statement of disagreement or stated disagreement components; (2) softening of disagreement with softened negative statements, honorifics, apologies; (3) delaying; and (4) hedging. These patterns are explained, with examples, and discussed in light of research on politeness behavior. It is noted that while these strategies are appropriate in their own cultural context, potential for misunderstanding increases in cross-cultural contexts, and to some extent in cross-gender interaction. Contains 26 references. (MSE)