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Activity 1: Making Questions in English

This document discusses question tags in English. It begins by providing examples of how statements can be turned into questions by adding a short question tag at the end, such as "You're here for the interview today, aren't you?". It then explains that question tags are either positive or negative depending on whether the main statement is positive or negative. The rest of the document provides more examples of positive and negative statements with question tags and discusses how intonation affects the meaning when saying question tags out loud.

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Lerby Barreda Febres
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38 views

Activity 1: Making Questions in English

This document discusses question tags in English. It begins by providing examples of how statements can be turned into questions by adding a short question tag at the end, such as "You're here for the interview today, aren't you?". It then explains that question tags are either positive or negative depending on whether the main statement is positive or negative. The rest of the document provides more examples of positive and negative statements with question tags and discusses how intonation affects the meaning when saying question tags out loud.

Uploaded by

Lerby Barreda Febres
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Activity 1

Another way to make questions


Making questions in English
You have wondered about questions in English, haven’t you? In  English, we
usually form questions by swapping the subject and verb in a statement around,
like this:

This is a serious job interview. (This is a statement.)


Is this a serious job interview? (This is a question.)

For a refresher on all the different types of questions, you can check out Unit
1 of our course. If you’re feeling ready to find out about making question tags,
stay on this page!

What do question tags mean and what do we use them for?


Basically, question tags work by turning a statement into a question by adding
a tag at the end. The tag is a short yes or no question, and we use different tags
depending on the statement. Here are a couple of examples:

You’re here for the interview today, aren’t you? (Compare with: Are you here
for the interview?)
You haven’t filled all the vacancies yet, have you? (Compare with: Have you
filled all the vacancies yet?)

The tag asks if the statement is true and makes it into a question. We use
question tags more often when we are speaking than when we are writing.

How do we make question tags?


We can see that question tags are either positive or negative. If the statement
part is positive, the tag is negative. If the statement is negative, then the
question tag part is positive. The subject of the statement always appears as a
pronoun in the tag.

You can fill out the application form without any problems, can’t you? (Positive


statement, negative question tag.)
You haven’t finished interviewing all the candidates, have you? (Negative
statement, positive question tag.)

If the main statement has an auxiliary verb, then the question tag is made with
the same auxiliary verb.

Positive statements with question tags

We are meeting this afternoon, aren’t we?


You have prepared the spreadsheet, haven’t you?
You will be on time for the workshop, won’t you?
You can join us for the business lunch, can’t you?
This is going to change our products forever, isn’t it?
For positive statements without auxiliary verbs, we use do to make the question
tag:

The new bosses like the idea, don’t they?


He always gives a good presentation, doesn’t he?
All the interviewees arrived on time, didn’t they?

Negative statements with question tags

The job situation isn’t getting any better, is it?


We haven’t had so many candidates interested before, have we?
Our new boss doesn’t like to have fun, does she?
I just can’t get this presentation right, can I?

When a form of be is the main verb in the statement, we use the matching form
in the tag.

She is qualified, isn’t she?


They were impressed by the sales figures, weren’t they?
It isn’t that difficult to understand, is it?
We weren’t ready for the tax increase, were we?

There is a special case if the pronoun is I and we use be in the statement. The
tag is made with am when the statement is negative - but when the statement
is positive, the tag is made with aren't.

I'm not the right person for the job, am I?


I'm in the right building for the interview, aren't I?

Activity 2
Saying question tags
They're easy to say, aren't they?
Question tags might be easy to make - you just need to make sure the verb and
pronoun are correct - but how we say them can be tricky.

Listen to this short explanation about saying question tags and try out saying
question tags yourself!

The way you make your voice go up and down when you speak is
called intonation, and it's really important for questions. In English, questions
that you can answer yes or no usually go up at the end - they have rising
intonation. Questions that ask for certain information, with question words
like when or where, tend to go down - they have falling intonation.

When we use question tags, our intonation can change the meaning and
purpose of our question.

 Firstly, we might be asking a question that we really don't know the answer to.
 Secondly, we might be using a question tag to check something we think is
true. 
 Thirdly, we might use a question tag to start a conversation.

Here is one question tag and three possible meanings depending on the
intonation:

You're our new designer, aren't you? (With the voice going up/rising intonation:
this is a real question and the speaker doesn't know the answer.)

You're our new designer, aren't you? (With the voice going down/falling
intonation: the speaker thinks they know the answer to the question and wants
to check.)

You're our new designer, aren't you? (With the voice going down/falling
intonation: the speaker is expressing interest and wants to start a conversation.)

To do
You can understand the difference in how we say question tags now, can't you?

It's time for you to have a go at saying question tags with rising and falling
intonation. Make up some question tags yourself. Practise making your voice go
up or down at the end of your tags - and if you can record yourself doing it.

Activity 3
6 Minute Grammar
Question tags
Catherine's chocolate has gone missing! She thinks Finn ate it, so she asks him
this: 'Finn, you didn't eat all the chocolate, did you?'

The phrase 'did you?' is an example of a question tag. Find out all about them
in this episode of 6 Minute Grammar.

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