We use “do” to describe the accomplishment of action, and we use “does” to refer to the accomplishment by someone or something else. These sentences all refer to either of these functions. how are things? informal (also how's everything?); (also how's it going?) I haven't seen you for ages, Carol. How are things? how do you mean? I think we need to reconsider our position. How do you know that? How did you find us? How could you have known? How did you happen to move here? Conjunction We asked how we could help. Let me tell you how we'll pay for the trip. The book tells the story of how the company was founded. She explained how she came to live here. I don't know how the service is at the new restaurant. How it works is a phrasal noun. How does it work? is an interrogative sentence (question). The former is commonly used as a heading and there is no question mark at the end. HowStuffWorks has been explaining how things work to curious minds since 1998. Providing factual, unbiased content that's fun to read and makes difficult topics easy to understand. Want to know why giant ships can float, how your earbuds make music, what graphene is, or how windows can clean themselves? You've come to the right place! Here you'll find simple explanations you can really understand—hurrah! Hard stuff. made simple! Discover which is correct: How does it work? or How it works? in our easy-to-understand guide! Learn the difference to enhance your English skills. Learn how to do anything with wikiHow, the world's most popular how-to website. Easy, well-researched, and trustworthy instructions for everything you want to know. What does How do you do mean? and how should you reply when someone says How do you do? I answer both of these questions in this short video for English learners. I've often seen how's used as short for how is - such as How's your wife feeling? or How's the weather where you are? I'm pretty sure the above is grammatically correct. However, it's also common to use how's as short for how does , such as How's it feel to be a student? .