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The way D&D works puts all socializing into the hands of stats/skills/Bonuses. This means that a social interaction like your character trying to sweet talk their way past a guard works like this:

• A - No roleplaying
  • Player states action: “I use Persuasion on NPC.”
  • Player rolls dice: “I roll a total of 22.”
  • GM confirms success or failure. “That is a success, he lets you pass.”

Alternative variants to how to solve this:

• B - The one we currently try to use.
  • Player states action: “I use Persuasion on NPC”
  • Player rolls dice: “I roll a total of 7.”
  • GM confirms success or failure: “That is a failure, he bars your way.”
  • player roleplays the result: “Guard! your mother said you had to go home to eat dinner now!” “I don't think so buddy, she's been dead for 7 years. You're not getting past me.”

• C - This is the one I'm most used to use in D&D.
  • Player roleplays statement: “Guard, one of the stablehands hit a gardener over the head with a spade and they started to fight, you must stop them!”
  • GM modifies the roll depending on how believable it is: “You get advantage on that roll.”
  • Players roll dice and modifies as per GM: “I roll a total of 17.”
  • GM explains the outcome: (success) “Him again?! Damn it, he keeps thinking the gardener sleeps with his wife! *runs off*”.

These last two gives different ways for players to roleplay their characters and interact with npc's. They also create a lot more interesting and unique scenes than “Yeah we ran to the guard and I rolled a 20 so he just let us right through!”.

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Note: Personally I really don't like option A, and if anyone ask to play like that, I'd basically play it like the character is trying to act friendly with smiling or miming but not actually saying anything. And permanently give it disadvantage.

Optional would be that I just make up my own shit for everything your characters would say, which is going to fuck you over royally as I'll take every chance to make fun of your characters, but also potentially lock your characters in some nasty situations simply because you're locked by the dice roll and I decide the actual things you say as according to that dice-roll. (You seduce the Orc to give up his evil ways)