Sự khác nhau giữa Reply vs Answer vs Response

Khi nào chúng ta sử dụng 03 từ này Reply, Answer, Reponse?
(sưm tầm)

Hỏi

Well, actually I watched a TV show (desperate housewives) and it was about a woman's wedding. She had sent wedding cards to her friends. One of her friends came to her home and said (You want a response? Here is my response!' and she teared up the wedding card.
So I just wondered why she used the word 'response'. 

Đáp

 It's a play on words. At the bottom of wedding invitations in the U.S. is RSVP, (Répondez s'il vous plaît = Please respond = Tell us if you are coming to the wedding). The woman's friend was upset and rather than responding by phone, she responded to the invitation by tearing it up!

 Hỏi

Damn, then I guess the context is not good because it doesn't help me.
For instance when I reply to a letter I always say 'thank you for your reply'. Could I say 'thank you for your answer (or response)? It does sound strange to me but I don't know why.     

Đáp

 For example you answer the phone, you don't respond or reply.For examples and/or explanations (or answers or responses or replies) have a look here (response may well be non-verbal)

 What you're saying is interesting. Obviously, you don't reply or respond the phone, but you answer it. So if you cannot respond or reply the phone, it means that there is definitely a difference between answer, reply and response. But which one?
It also seems that reply and answer are more commonly used and seem to be more interchangeable. Response is also referred to as a reaction

Một câu trả lời khác, cho thấy  mức độ của 3 từ trên

I've also thought a lot about the differences between these words, and this is what I have come up with so far:

My impression is that:

A response is generally a reaction to something, not necessarily a verbal one; for example, you also talk of the "immune response".
The verb and noun response are followd by the preposition to.

A reply is usually a reaction or an answer to something in speech or writing, though it can also be a reaction of a different kind, like a gesture or an action.
In general, it seems to me that a "reply" is a more cognitive thing that you'll normally receive from a person, whereas a (biological, chemical, mechanical...) system can't give you a reply, but yes a response.
The verb and noun response are equally followd by the preposition to.

An answer seems to be, above all, some sort of a solution to a question or a problem.
I am not sure how the telephone fits in here, though. That's maybe just the way it is. Language is not always - if ever - logical.
The verb to answer is not normally followed by to (apart from one meaning where it means "to be called").

I would be grateful if someone could confirm or rectify this.