A question tag is a short phrase added to the end of a statement to turn it into a question. We use them to check if information is true, or to ask for agreement.

To form a question tag, look at the verb and the subject in the main sentence.

There are a few situations in English where the question tag does not follow the standard rules.

If the main statement contains a word with a negative meaning (like never, rarely, seldom, hardly, nobody, or nothing), the statement is considered negative. Therefore, the tag must be positive.

The meaning of a question tag changes depending on how your voice moves at the end of the sentence.

Parallel structure (also known as parallelism) is the repetition of a chosen grammatical form within a sentence. By making each compared item or idea follow the same grammatical pattern, you create a parallel construction that is easy to read and understand.

When you connect two or more items using a coordinating conjunction (most commonly and or or), the items must be grammatically parallel.

Correlative conjunctions come in pairs. The grammatical structure that follows the first half of the pair must be identical to the structure that follows the second half.

When you are comparing two things, the two things being compared must be built using the same grammatical structure.

When creating a list, especially on a resume or in a professional document, start every bullet point with the same part of speech (usually an active verb).

Another common way parallelism is broken is by mixing active voice and passive voice in the same sentence or clause sequence.

Grammatical inversion happens when we reverse the normal word order of a sentence. Instead of the standard Subject + Verb, we use Verb/Auxiliary + Subject.

When a sentence begins with a negative or restrictive adverb (to make it sound more striking), we invert the subject and the auxiliary verb.

In highly formal writing, you can omit the word if in conditional sentences by moving the auxiliary verb (should, were, or had) before the subject.

When sentences start with expressions of place or direction, the main verb moves before the subject. This is common in literature and storytelling.

To heavily emphasize an adjective or noun, we can place So + Adjective or Such + Noun at the beginning of the sentence, followed by inverted word order.

Phrases beginning with Only or containing the word no often trigger inversion when placed at the front of a sentence.

A paragraph is a group of sentences that share one main idea. Instead of writing one massive wall of text, we break our writing into paragraphs to make it easy to read and understand.

A great paragraph is built just like a hamburger. It needs a top bun to hold it together, the meat in the middle to give it flavor, and a bottom bun to finish it off.

The topic sentence is usually the first sentence of the paragraph. It tells the reader exactly what the paragraph is going to be about. It should be clear and interesting.

Once you have your topic sentence, you must prove it or explain it. You do this using supporting sentences. A good paragraph usually has 3 to 5 supporting sentences.

Transition words act like bridges. They help the reader move smoothly from one sentence to the next so the paragraph doesn’t sound robotic or choppy.

Let’s look at a complete paragraph. Notice how it starts with a clear idea, uses transition words to give examples, and wraps up neatly at the end.

In English, we have specific ways to talk about time when the minute hand is perfectly at the top (12) or perfectly at the bottom (6) of the clock.

Instead of saying “fifteen” or “forty-five,” native speakers very often use the word quarter (which means 1/4 of an hour, or 15 minutes).

When reading time the traditional British way, you must look at which half of the clock the minute hand is resting on.

While learning “past” and “to” is important for understanding native speakers, it is completely acceptable and very common to just read the numbers exactly as they appear on a digital clock.

Mistake 1: AM / PM vs. O’clock

You cannot use “o’clock” and “AM/PM” in the same sentence. Choose one.

Mistake 2: 12:00 Confusion

12:00 can be confusing because it changes from AM to PM. Use words to make it perfectly clear.

Mistake 3: Prepositions of Time

Make sure you use the correct preposition when talking about when something happens.

Native English speakers naturally use a specific order when placing multiple adjectives before a noun. If you mix up the order, the sentence will sound very strange, even if it is technically understandable.

You can remember this order using the acronym OSASCOMP (Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material, Purpose), preceded by the Quantity.

Mistake 1: Putting Fact before Opinion

Always tell us how you feel about the object before you tell us the cold, hard facts about it.

Mistake 2: Mixing up Size and Color

Size comes very early in the sequence, while color comes right before the noun’s origin or material.

Mistake 3: Putting Age before Size

Physical size generally takes precedence over how old something is.