Question tags in small talk

Question tags in small talk

In pairs or small groups, make small talk about topics such as those below, making sure that you speak the same amount (50/ 50 for two people) and that you change who is speaking often (not giving long speeches).

Suggested small talk topics

• Accommodation (hotel, etc) and area near it
• Appearance (clothes, fashion, hair, jewellery, etc)
• Arts and media (television, movies, music, which newspaper you read, etc)
• Busyness
• Climate/ Weather/ Seasons
• Company/ Department/ Division/ Section/ Team/ Group
• Daily routine/ Typical day
• Education/ Studies (which school you went to, what you studied at university, MBA, etc)
• Exercise/ Doing sports
• Family
• Famous people
• Food and drink (likes and dislikes, allergies, vegetarianism, etc)
• Free time/ Hobbies/ Interests
• Future plans
• Gossip/ Rumours
• Health (exercise, dieting, health problems, etc)
• Holidays (= Vacations)
• Hometown/ Local area/ Places you have lived
• Language(s)
• Nature (the environment, pets, etc)
• Negative things
• Nightlife
• Organisations (companies, universities, etc)
• People (people who you both know, famous people, how good looking someone is, etc)
• Places (countries you have lived in and visited, famous places, places in the news, etc)
• Possessions
• Present projects/ Things in progress
• Previous jobs
• Products/ Services
• Recent work
• Relationships (family, friends, fellow alumni, ex-colleagues, etc)
• Shopping
• Sport
• Technology and the internet
• Things happening around you (in or near the place where you are speaking)
• This area
• This week
• Today
• Transport and travel
• Work (what exactly you do in your job, etc)
• Yesterday

Small talk discussion and question tags presentation

How smooth was your conversation? Did you speak the same amount as each other? Did you often change who was speaking?

How can you make sure that you have smooth small talk? In what ways can you make sure that you speak equally and change turns as much as possible (so it’s a conversation, not monologues)?

What is wrong with all of these phrases? How can you make them better?

• We haven’t met.
• “Long time no see.” “Yes, it’s been a long time.”
• It’s your first time here./ You haven’t been here.
• You work with John.
• Your company makes the PF7000.
• Your company was in the news.
• That’s the new iWatch.
• You have come back from America.
• It’s a fine day.
• It’s humid.
• It’s hot
• It’s bad weather.
• It’s nice that the rainy season has finished.
• You live near here.
• I know you are a Chelsea fan.
• The Japan team did well yesterday.
• It’s a nice view.
• It’s busy here.
• There are many people here today.
• Your son is at university now.
• You have another meeting.
• You used to work in America.
• You’re going to America tomorrow.
• You like craft beer.
• You aren’t allergic to anything.
• Yes, it is.

Look at the description on the next page about what is wrong with the phrases above, or compare with the suggested answers on the last page and say why those are better (as your teacher tells you).  

Try to make all the phrases above better, look at the suggested words on the next page to help, then compare your answers with the suggested answers on the last page. Other changes are possible, so please check with your teacher if you wrote something different.

Hints

Problems with small talk statements

They are all conversation killers, meaning they will probably receive short or no replies. Some also seem to have no purpose, as they are statements of fact that the listener already knows. They need to:

• be more extreme, and/ or
• include language to help get a reaction, e.g. tag questions like “isn’t it?” and “don’t you?”

Possible tag questions to use

• are(n’t) there
• are(n’t) they
• are(n’t) you
• can(’t) you
• did(n’t) you
• did(n’t) they
• do(n’t) you
• does(n’t) he
• does(n’t) it
• does(n’t) she
• have(n’t) you
• is(n’t) he
• is(n’t) it
• is(n’t) she
• was(n’t) it
• were(n’t) you

Other useful words to add

Add words from this list to the phrases above, changing or deleting any words you need to.

• ages
• awful
• baking
• big
• boiling
• brand
• finally
• hectic
• huge
• just
• lovely
• really
• so
• sweltering
• terrible
• yet
• yet again

Suggested answers

• We haven’t met (before), have we?
• “Long time no see.” “Yes, it’s been ages, hasn’t it?”
• It’s your first time here, isn’t it?/ You haven’t been here, have you?
• You work with John, don’t you?
• Your company makes the PF7000, doesn’t it?
• Your company was just in the news, wasn’t it?
• That’s the brand new iWatch, isn’t it?
• You have just come back from America, haven’t you?
• It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?
• It’s so humid, isn’t it?
• It’s really hot/ boiling/ baking/ sweltering, isn’t it?
• It’s terrible weather/ awful weather, isn’t it?
• It’s so nice that the rainy season has finally finished, isn’t it?
• You live near here, don’t you?
• I know you are a big/ huge Chelsea fan, aren’t you?
• The Japan team did really well yesterday, didn’t they?
• It’s a lovely view, isn’t it?
• It’s really busy/ hectic here, isn’t it?
• There are so many people here today, aren’t there?
• Your son is at university now, isn’t he?
• You have (yet) another meeting, don’t you?
• You used to work in America, didn’t you?
• You’re going to America tomorrow (yet again), aren’t you?
• You like craft beer, don’t you?
• You aren’t allergic to anything, are you?
• Yes, it (really) is, isn’t it?

Change partners. Roleplay similar conversations to the first stage, but this time using as many words as possible on the hints page as you do so.

Change partners. Roleplay small talk again, but this time without any help.

Change partners. Roleplay small talk without any help again, but this time also try to smoothly finish the small talk with getting down to progress, needing to leave, etc.