Question Tags

Like I mentioned earlier, the English we speak is largely influenced by our regional language thought process. Typically, we would use a ‘No’ as a question tag, at the end of our sentences when we speak in our first language.

For example -
“I told you about him, No?”
” We met that day, No?”

The question format in English should be -
” Didn’t I tell you about him”
” Didn’t we meet that day?”

Or if using a question tag makes you feel ‘good’ then replace the tag with a ‘right‘ or ‘didn’t I/ we ‘ instead of ‘No’.

For example -

I told you about him, didn’t I?
We met that day, didn’t we?

But almost never over do question tags.

Tip – Avoid Indianisms

We think in our first language and frame sentences in English. The effect of that is grammatical and structural errors. Indianisms (as we call it) greatly affect the quality of communication- both written and spoken. Learn to avoid Indianisms to make your communication crisp, short and effective.

* When writing emails, always remember to use active voice
* Use short sentences
* Do not repeat words for emphasis
* In speech,do not use question tags at the end of sentences
* Watch out for Subject – Verb interchange
* Avoid unnecessary explanations

Tip – How to speak lesser errors.

The best way to keep your sentences error free, is to speak shorter sentences. The longer the sentence, the more the errors. When you think in your first language and speak in English, the scope of errors increase. You tend to add a few extra words or speak in the continuous tense. By making your sentences shorter, these errrors can be avoided.