Hey there! This is TOP episode 164. Ask Questions Fearlessly!
My name’s Ola and I am an English teacher. I believe you can eliminate your language blockade. You can speak English with confidence, slay that fear and enjoy successful communication.
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Hello hello! It’s grammar day today! I’ve noticed that questions are tough, you don’t feel confident asking them so I figured let’s deal with that. It’s gonna be pure practice today. You’ll be speaking a lot, repeating questions in all tenses and making your own questions plus saying them out loud.
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We are going to analyse two types of questions. Closed-ended questions, also called ‘yes-no’ questions and open-ended questions, aka ‘wh’ questions.
yes-no yestions go first. They can be answered in two ways only, yes or no. Things like:
Do you like bananas?
Are you Spanish?
Does he know you?
Now, let’s go through all the tenses there are to practice. Just like that. Listen and repeat out loud.
Additionally make your own, similar questions. Change little things, like the doer, or change singular to plural, aor add somebody’s name so that it sounds more familiar. Make it personal. So I say:
Do you like bananas?
You repeat and then you make your own sentence that makes sense for you, like: Does Adam like bananas? I know Adam, so I see him saying that sentence so I’ll keep this in my memory for longer. Hopefully. Ok, let’s proceed. I’ll tell you when to repeat and when to make your own sentence. Great!
One more extremely relevant element. Or three elements. There are three types of questions.
One.
Let’s call them ‘normal questions’. They need an auxiliary verb. An additional word that signals it’s a question. We also use them in negations. I’m thinking about words like: ‘do’, ‘does’ and ‘did’. So, this rule applies to all questions in present simple and past simple, except for one verb, to be. ‘To be’ behaves in a completely different way we’re going to discuss in a sec. Examples of ‘normal questions’:
Do you like Adam?
Did you see her yesterday?
Does he like me?
Two.
The second category of questions is when we have to apply inversion. It’s when we invert the position of the word but we don’t add any additional words. It works with the verb ‘to be’ as well as with the modal verbs. Let’s call this group ‘inverted questions’ and here are the examples:
Can you show me your keyring?
Is she happy?
Are they ok?
You can – can you?
she is – is she?
they are – are they?
That’s that.
Three.
This works for the present perfect, the present continuous, and the future perfect continuous. All other tenses really. Here we change the position of the first auxiliary and the subject. I know it sounds like a word salad, so hear some examples:
Are they writing a book together? They are writing.
Have you seen her? You have seen her.
Has she got lairy? She has got lairy.
Ok, we’ve set the foundations and now we can go through all the tenses and practice questions as I mentioned before. Ok, here it comes. Repeat the sentence and then change it slightly to create a new one.
Are you hungry?
Make your own sentence and say it out lout.
Do you like broccoli?
Say your sentence.
Are you enjoying the party?
Say your sentence.
Were you at the wedding last weekend?
Say your sentence.
Did you say yes?
Say your sentence.
Were you yeating dinner yesterday at 5?
Say your sentence.
Have you seen Adam?
Say your sentence.
Had you known about that?
Say your sentence.
Had you been reading?
Say your sentence.
Will you join us?
Say your sentence.
Will you be reading?
Say your sentence.
Will you have come by 5?
Say your sentence.
Can you tell me the time?
Say your sentence.
Should I say something?
Say your sentence.
The second big group of questions in wh questions. Ok, so these are open-ended questions hence the number of unswers isn’t limited anyhow. They start with a question word, lik: who, when, why, how long, where.
Please remember this, all you have to do is put the question word (who, when, why) before a ‘yse-no’ question. So keep the inversion, keep do, did and does. Just add the question word in front of it. For instance:
Do you like apples?
Why do you like apples?
What kinds of apples do you like?
Yes. Let’s practice. We’ll do the same thing. Many different tenses, you repeat the sentence and then you quickly, impromptu make your own. On the spot. Say it out loud, let’s keep going:
Who is she?
Say your sentence.
Where do you live?
Say your sentence.
When are you going to see me?
Say your sentence.
Where were they last weekend?
Say your sentence.
How did you know about them?
Say your sentence.
What were you reading when I came here?
Say your sentence.
Where have you eaten?
Say your sentence.
Why have you been exercising?
Say your sentence.
What had you seen?
Say your sentence.
Where had you seen me?
Say your sentence.
Who will help us?
Say your sentence.
Why will you be driving?
Say your sentence.
When will you have finished?
Say your sentence.
What can I do?
Say your sentence.
Why should I tell you?
Say your sentence.
This is it! Now, go to your inbox and get the worksheet to test yourself. Translate the sentences into English. If you aren’t a member of TOPeople download the worksheet from teacherola.com/164. Don’t forget to visit powiedzcos.pl and let the journey to fluency begin!
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Tell someone like-minded and let them start speaking English with us! Thanks again! I’ll see you next Wednesday! Happy learning. Take care! Stay fearless and say it out loud! Bye!