Episode 189: How to reply to questions with short answers.
This podcast focuses on replying to questions. Native speakers often use “short answers” in which we repeat the auxiallary. This can be confusing for learners, but it just needs practice.Â
How to use Question Tags
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YouTubeWelcome back to English-Podcasts In this episode we talk about questions. There are many ways to ask a question in English, some ways are suitable for a written style where as Question Tags are really frequent in spoken conversation.
Notes
Are you ready to develop your spoken English?
Native speakers often use Question Tags in conversation. In order to become proficient in this style you need to revise your knowledge of Auxiliaires: Do, Have, To be, Can, Must, Will because they are added at the END of the question.
You’ll notice in the podcast that Question Tags are added to the end of statements to turn them into questions, in this way the speaker wants to check that something is true.
For example, “You’re American, aren’t you? You live in London, don’t you? You can speak Chinese, can’t you?
So have you noticed how they are formed?
We add a clause in the form of a question at the end of a sentence. If the main part of the sentence is positive we usually add a negative question tag.
It’s a bit early, isn’t it?
If the main part is negative, we usually add a positive question tag.
Mum isn’t in trouble, is she?
So now, over to you…. tune in to the podcast and try the exercises.
Recap & Takeaways
You may need to listen several times before you get the hang of it.
So, here are the first 4 questions to help you:
1. Do you live in Toulouse?
2. Have you got a motorbike? Watch out for the answer on that one.
3. Will you watch Netflix tonight?
4. Are you an England rugby fan?
… over to you for the other questions.
