In any type of conversation, in English and in your own language, you always need
to ask questions! if you don't ask questions this is what happens in a
conversation 99% of the time –
let's fix that! the first
type of questions you need to ask are for comprehension. things you didn't
understand. things you need to clarify! the other type is to react. these are
questions to continue the conversation. to build on it. to get to know someone or
something better, but before we look at either of these, you need to remember
it's always okay to ask a question! if you don't understand, or if you want to
know more, if you want to be in control, ask! ask a question and be the person who
decides how slow or how fast a conversation goes. someone is always in
control of a conversation, I want you to be that person! for your English is made
possible thanks to the coolest motherfackars! after you become a patron
you will also beginning this video published later today, just showing some
of my messy brainstorming, creating ideas and talking about that process! alright
and now before we really continue, put your hand up and repeat after me: I swear
that if I don't understand what people are saying or talking about, I will ask! I
will do my best to insert myself into any conversation. I swear to take risks
and chances when speaking and communicating in English, because not
doing so will result in failure! all right!
you swore the oath. we're ready to begin, let's do it! let's start with
comprehension questions, and the two easiest ways to ask them. first, switch or
invert the subject and auxiliary verb. here is the subject in these sentences,
and here is the auxiliary verb. it is raining. they can read Italian. she was
living abroad. you have been studying English. we will arrive late. to turn them
into questions, we invert the subject and the auxiliary verb. to invert, means we
change, we change the order. so it becomes, is it
raining? can they read Italian? was she living abroad? have you been studying
English? will we arrive late? but what if the sentence has no auxiliary verb? it's
simple, we add do for the present and did for the past. and we use the infinitive
of the main verb, that means we don't conjugate or change it after do and did.
you speak Hindi becomes do you speak Hindi? you studied business becomes did
you study business? they live in Basra becomes do they live
in Basra? she lived in Rio becomes did she live in
Rio? he has a brother becomes does he have a brother? to ask more specific
questions, we put super useful question words at the front. these question words
are: who, what, where, when, why, and how. let me give you some examples of when we can
use these question words for comprehension. "oh yeah he arrived by
?d/d/D?D?D?" "HOW did he arrive?" "oh I just spoke with Sh?D?D?D?"
"WHO did you just speak with?" "Oh him, he's from SH??D?D?D" "WHERE is he from?"
"hey! I wanted to tell you about SHD?D??D?" "WHAT did you say?"
"Yeah I'll be home at 7!??!?!" "WHEN will you be home?" "He didn't want to come
because of A!?!?!??!" "WHY didn't he want to come?" "oh, he did it by going BL!?!?" "HOW
did he do it?" alright so that's how we ask questions when we don't understand.
to get clarity, for comprehension. now let's look at how to ask questions to
continue, to make conversation. first of all, you need to do this– you need to be
inquisitive, you need to ask questions and be curious. that means asking a lot
of questions and you can do this very easily with the question words we just
learned, who what where when why how, these are ideal to make conversation
with people you just met, don't know very well, or don't know at all. so after basic
introductions, you know, like giving your name,
what you do, why you're there, where you're from, that kind of stuff – we can
immediately start to ask questions! but only if you actively listen, if you are
actually listening to what the other person is saying can we use this method!
so make sure that you are always listening, always paying attention and
asking questions if you don't understand! otherwise, we can't make conversation! let
me give you an example, "hi I'm Kallan. I'm from the US and I'm visiting
Ethiopia for two weeks" here, if you are actively listening to me,
you already have a lot of questions you can ask me. for example, WHERE are you
from in the US? WHY are you visiting Ethiopia?
Do you like Ethiopia? DO you speak Amharic? HAVE YOU traveled anywhere else
before? all I did was introduce myself, one quick sentence, and you already have
so many questions you can ask me! and if you didn't understand my introduction,
then we have to use those comprehension questions. and now every time a person
responds to you, you can continue to ask more questions. or give your own
information! for example, in the same situation that I introduced myself, you
can say "oh I haven't visited the US yet!" or "I have visited the US". or you can give
advice, "If you are in Addis Ababa, you should visit this great Sudanese
restaurant", "my favorite thing to do in Ethiopia is..." blah blah blah! there are
always so many great opportunities for you to speak if you're paying attention,
ask if you didn't understand, or give your own information. and if the person
you're talking to is also good at making conversation, they will ask questions or
make comments about what you are saying! but if they're not good at making
conversation, then continue to introduce new topics and keep on asking questions
about them! try using topics that you're interested in or that you think the
other person might be interested in. here there are so many topics that you can
use! Weather: WHAT do you like to do in the summer, the fall or the winter? Sports:
DO you play any sports? DO you watch any sports? Movies: HAVE YOU seen any good
movies lately? and if none of these work, if you can't find any good topics,
ask one of these, "WHAT are you interested in?" or "WHAT type of work do you do?"
everyone must have at least one interest, and everyone must be doing some type of
work in their life! so after they respond to one of those questions, you can
continue to ask or introduce your own interests or your own work. some people
are just terrible at making conversation. so if you have tried every
technique that we have talked about so far, make an excuse to leave! say you need
to use the bathroom, pretend you need to make a phone call, do
something to end the conversation and give you an opportunity to talk to other
people! don't blame it on you or your English skills. even in our own languages,
a lot of people are just bad at making conversation!
so say, "nice meeting you, but..." and then give your excuse. or say, "oh just one
second, I need to..." and then do what you need to do. you just learned a lot of
great conversation stuff. to make sure that you don't forget or that you're
using it properly, write your examples in the comments under this video. even
better practice, ask these questions out loud! that is the best way to improve
your English conversational skills by yourself. so come on, you can do it! get
started!
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