There are a few things that many English learners try to avoid for as long as possible.

The first thing that comes to mind is phrasal verbs.

The second: question tags.

Can you live without them?

Well, yes, you kind of can.

Can you make good progress without them?

No, absolutely not.

All native speakers use both phrasal verbs and question tags all day long. If making progress is sounding more and more like native speakers then you absolutely can’t live without them.

So why do English learners avoid them if they are things that we use so regularly?

The answer is because on the surface, they seem difficult.

And the sad truth is that people often avoid things that seem difficult. They prefer to learn things that seem easier.

The problem is, easy will get you nowhere.

You can make massive progress if you take the challenge of learning something that at first seems difficult.

When you become familiar with it, you suddenly find that you jump up a bit in your level and understanding of English.

Embrace things that seems difficult.

The first step you can take is by learning and mastering question tags.

So what is a question tag, you ask?

A question tag is something that you put on the end of an affirmative (or negative) sentence to make it a question.

Why do you want to make it a question?

The function of a question tag is to encourage a response from the listener, to confirm something that you already know or suspect, or to emphasise your statement.

Learning English is great, isn’t it?

You’re Spanish, aren’t you?

She hasn’t been here before, has she?

For you Spanish speakers, the translation would be when you end a statement with [, verdad?] or [, no?].

What Spanish speakers tend to do is translate directly from Spanish and end a statement in English with “, no?”

We don’t normally use this in English, though, so it can sound a bit strange.

We use question tags.

Let me ask you a question. How many times do you use the equivalent of a question tag in your language every day?

Loads.

And how many times do you use question tags when you speak English?

I’m guessing close to zero.

Do you see what I’m trying to say here?

Exactly…

You need to finally learn and master question tags, once and for all.

“But they aren’t easy to use, Adam. I have to think a lot!”

Easy will get you nowhere.

Thinking is good.

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So here’s how you learn and practise them.

The basic structure is the following.

If the sentence is affirmative, then the question tag is negative.

If the sentence is negative, then the question tag is affirmative.

Positive, negative.

Negative, positive.

Yin and yang.

The perfect balance.

Now. You make the question tag in the following way: auxiliary verb + subject

• You’re Spanish, aren’t you?
• She hasn’t been here before, has she?

That’s all you need to remember. Now you just need to apply it to a sentence.

You don’t need a teacher next to you to tell you if you are using it correctly. You have the correct structure above so you can check it against your sentence and ask yourself if it’s correct. If you know the tenses and their corresponding auxiliary verbs, you can check yourself (if you understand this post then you most definitely should know this).

So now to practise.

The first thing you can do is write a long list of very short sentences that contain a subject, verb and object. Don’t write the question tag just yet.

• They don’t like dogs, …
• He loves France, …
• You can’t swim, …
• It won’t rain tomorrow, …
• You’re learning to play the piano, …

And so on…

Write around thirty short sentences like the ones above but without the question tags.

Then you read the sentences out loud and add the question tag as you say each one. You want to repeat the list until you can say the question tag without pausing and without thinking.

Remember, there shouldn’t be a pause between the sentence and the question tag. If you pause, the question has a different meaning.

Repeat until there is no pause and the sentence and question tag flow together.

When you can do that, change the list for another one and repeat.

It’s simple and extremely effective. You can even have the list next to your computer monitor at work and practise a little throughout the day. You can write the correct question tag on a separate sheet of paper and check each answer in the beginning.

Another thing you can do is the following.

Take some text in English. A news article online is a good option. As you read the article, I want you to take every subject + verb + object in every sentence and add a question tag to it.

Don’t worry if the sentence sounds strange. It may but it’s not important. What we’re trying to do here is get the question tag to come out naturally and you need something to work from, and written sentences are great to make question tags with.

Let’s take the paragraph above that starts with “You don’t need a teacher next to you…” as an example. Now let’s make question tags from the sentences in that paragraph.

• You don’t need a teacher next to you, do you?
• You have the correct structure above, don’t you?
• You can check it against your sentence, can’t you?
• If you understand this post then you should know this, shouldn’t you?

You can do this with any text that has a subject, verb and object in it to practise them.

Practice makes permanent.

What is extremely important is that you say the question tags out loud.

Remember, it’s not what you practise, but how you practise that’s important.

If you practise writing question tags, you get good at writing question tags.

The problem is, we mostly use question tags when we speak. You can write a million question tags, but if you can’t say them, it’s all for nothing.

Say them out loud.

When you get good at producing question tags, everything else becomes much easier.

You will be able to identify the tense, auxiliary verb and object instantly and without thinking.

You will sound much more natural and you will get extremely good at grammar and you will find that you start improving again..

And you want to improve, don’t you?