Tricky English Question Structures: Tag Questions, “Do you mind?”, “Are you in?”...

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Welcome to www.engvid.com.

In today's video, I have a very, very important lesson for you.

And the reason I say that is because we're going to look at some questions that especially

for beginner and even intermediate students have a very difficult time trying to answer.

And it's not because they don't understand the question.

The problem most of the time is they don't know how to structure the answer in relation

to the question.

You'll understand more when I show you the types of questions we're looking at.

So basically, these - I call these "tricky questions".

Now, for native speakers, they're not tricky; they're just natural questions.

For English learners, they can be very tricky.

So we're going to start with "tag questions".

Now, "tag questions" are - the way they are built is you have basically an expression

or a statement followed by a short question, a yes/no question.

So, "You like pizza, don't you?"

"You don't like pizza, do you?"

Now, you'll notice that I have a positive verb and a negative verb, or I have a negative

verb and a positive verb.

So, that's how we structure it.

So, I'm not going to focus too much about the tags now; I want to just show you how

to answer this question every time.

The key is to basically understand what are you being asked.

So, if you look at both of these questions, try to make it a very simple, straightforward

question, like.

If you understand the meaning.

We're talking about liking pizza.

So, the question actually is, "Do you like pizza?"

That's the actual question you're being asked.

If I say it like this, this is the meaning.

If I say it like this, this is still the meaning.

So, it doesn't matter how the tag is structured, the meaning of the question does not change.

So, it's very important to understand what the meaning of the question is, not the structure

of the question.

So, it doesn't matter what you want to say.

However, you would answer this question, answer this question, these questions as well.

So, I like pizza, for example.

I love pizza, actually, but.

"You like pizza, don't you?"

"Yes."

"You don't like pizza, do you?"

"Yes."

"Yes" doesn't mean I agree with a "don't like", it means yes, I do.

Now, if you're not entirely sure that the person will understand you, with the negative,

just stress the positive verb.

"You don't like pizza, do you?"

"Yes, I do."

Now, let's pretend I don't like pizza.

"You like pizza, don't you?"

"No."

"You don't like pizza, do you?"

"No."

The answer doesn't change, depending on the question.

The answer will always be the same, because this is the actual question that you're answering.

So, don't be afraid to just simply answer yes or no, regardless of how the question

was structured, as long as you actually understand what you're being asked.

"It's not cold out today, is it?"

-10.

"It's cold out today, isn't it?"

-10 doesn't change.

"Yes, it is cold" doesn't change.

I can change the question many times; the answer will always stay the same.

So, I had a lot...

I have a lot of students, and you ask them, "You like pizza, don't you?"

"Yes, I don't."

Or "No, I do."

Like, they get a little bit confused because they're not sure, do they answer this verb

or do they answer this verb?

Answer the meaning of the question, not the two verbs inside of it.

So, that's tags.

I hope that's a little bit clear, because I know this is a very confusing question type.

Next, we have this one, "would you mind if" or "do you mind if".

Now, you have to remember, this word "mind" is a verb; it's not a mind, it's not a noun.

"To mind" means to be against.

If you mind something, if you mind someone doing something, you're against them doing

You don't want them to do it.

So, "Would you mind if I smoked?"

"Yes" means don't smoke.

So, "yes" to this question means don't do whatever the person wants to do.

"Would you mind if I smoked?"

"Yes" means go ahead.

So, "Do you mind if I smoke?"

"Yes" means don't smoke.

"Do you mind if I smoke?"

"No, go ahead, have a cigarette."

Again, smoking or any other situation.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

Or "No, do you mind if I sit here?"

"Yes, I'm saving it for my friend who's coming soon."

So, you can always say why your answer is yes or no, but a lot of people say, "Do you

mind if I smoke?"

"No."

"No, I don't mind" means go ahead and smoke, but it means...

But what you're actually thinking is no, don't smoke.

So, you have to be very careful about that because native speakers will take your answer

to mean the opposite of what you might think it is.

I hope that's a little bit clear as well.

Whenever you hear this question, think of the opposite of what you want to do or the

person to do and say that.

"Yes" means don't, "no" means do.

So, it's a little bit tricky.

Now, I'm going to give you a few more questions that are a little bit more, I guess, street

language, more slangy, therefore they're very tricky.

For non-native English speakers, they're very hard to understand, but I'll explain to you

what they mean and how to answer them.

Okay, so now we're going to look at some questions that native speakers use all the time, and

we use it with each other, but sometimes we use it with non-native speakers because we're

just in the moment, and the non-native speakers get a little bit confused because there's

not enough information in the question, so you have to understand all the little pieces.

So, for example, someone suggests a few of us are going to go to the bar for some drinks.

And you're looking, and am I in the bar?

Am I in somewhere else?

"In" means are you interested, okay?

That's very important to understand.

This basically means interested, okay?

Or do you want to come?

Do you want to join us, right?

That's what "in" in this particular sentence means.

Now, "into" basically means the same thing, except that you need more information.

Are you into having a few drinks?

Are you into coming with us?

Are you into coming to the bar with us?

"In" by itself, the information was given before.

"Into", the information is given after, but they mean the same thing.

So, we're going to go to the bar.

Are you in or out?

Or we're going to - a few of us are going to buy a lottery ticket.

He's going to put in $5, and we're going to share the winnings if we win.

Are you in or out?

Means do you want to be involved or do you want to stay out of this particular adventure

or project or whatever it is, right?

Do you want to join or do you not want to join?

Do you want to take part or do you not want to take part?

"Down with", now, "down with" is very slang.

You're not going to write like this and you're not going to use it in formal situations,

but with friends, very commonly used.

Maybe a little less popular than it used to be, but people still use this.

"Down with" basically means the same as "in" or "into".

Are you interested?

So, are you down with coming to the bar?

Are you down with putting in $5 to buy lottery tickets?

And the same thing, you need the information after.

You can also say, we're going to do this, are you down with that?

And "that" would refer back to the information that came before, but same meaning.

More common, are you down with doing something, right?

Are you interested?

"Cool with", same idea, are you cool with that?

Are you okay with that?

Do you want to participate?

Do you want to join?

So, I'm going to take your homework and submit it, like I'm a bully, right?

You're a little person in the school.

I'm going to take your homework and give it to the teacher, are you cool with that?

If you say no, I will beat you up.

If you say yes, I will say thank you and take your homework, right?

Are you cool with that?

Are you okay with that?

Are you comfortable with that?

Again, not the best situation to explain it, but it works, right?

That's how it happens.

Now, keep in mind also that native speakers, as much as possible, will always take shortcuts.

We will always squeeze the information into as few words as we can, just because we can,

So, instead of saying, "Are you in?"

Sometimes people will ask you, "You in?

And if you don't understand that these are two separate words, shortening of a full question,

it can be very confusing, confusing, sorry.

So, sometimes you'll hear people say, "You in?

You down with that?

You into coming with us?

You cool with that?"

So, the "you" becomes "ya", and the "are" completely taken out, and this is very natural

English for native speakers.

So, if you want to understand what people around you are saying or what you hear in

the movies, remember that native speakers will squeeze the language as much as possible.

And this happens in your language, too.

If I want to study your language, I will need to learn all the shortcuts, all the squeezed

expressions as well.

You're going to have to do that in English if you want to make English-speaking friends

So, I hope these are a little bit helpful.

There is a quiz at www.engvid.com if you want to practice your understanding of these questions,

especially the tags and the questions with mind.

Make sure you take the quiz and understand all that.

If you have any questions, there's also a comment section there.

Please ask your questions, I'll be happy to help out.

And that's it for the tricky questions.

Remember, not tricky for us, tricky for you now, and soon they'll be natural for you as

If you like the video, give me a like, don't forget to subscribe to my channel, and come

back for more useful tips and vocabulary and other tools to help you improve your English.

See you next time.