Question tags

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EXTRA English 17 Cyber Stress

Grammatik und Übungen

Question tags

A 'normal' question looks like this:

• Do you know everything about computers?

We use question tags when we want to find out that something we believe to be true is correct, or to check that some information is correct.

• You know everything about computers, don't you?

Question tags are normally negative if the main verb is positive, and positive if the main verb is negative.

• Hector comes from Argentina, doesn’t he?

• Annie hasn't received her examination results, has she?

A) Re-write these questions with question tags.

Do you speak English?  You speak English, don't you?

1 Is she Italian? _____ _She’s Italian, isn’t she?_____ _________________ _ 2 Are they working today? ____ __They are working today, aren’t they?_________ _ __

3 Does Bridget work for a TV company? _Bridget works for a TV company, doesn’t she?_

4 Do Nick and Hector live in the same flat? __ Nick and Hector live in the same flat,_____

don’t they?_ _ __

5 Has Hector got dark hair? ____Hector has got dark hair, hasn’t he? __ _____________

6 Did Nick work as a weather reporter on TV? __ Nick worked as a weather reporter __

on TV, didn’t he ? _______________ _ ___________ _ _

7 Did Annie and Bridget meet at school? __Annie and Bridget met at school, didn’t they?_

8 Will Annie and Hector get married next year? __Annie and Hector will get married next_

year, won’t they? _______________________________

B) Answer these questions about yourself.

You're English, aren't you?  Yes, I am. / No, I'm not. (Actually, I'm Italian.)

1 You’re Italian, aren't you? ____Yes, I am. / No, I’m not. I’m German, actually. _ __

2 You went to the cinema last night, didn't you? _ Yes, I did. / No, I didn’t. I went to the theatre. _ _____________________________________

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EXTRA English 17 Cyber Stress

Grammatik und Übungen

3 You're going to do your homework this evening, aren't you? __Yes, I am. / No, I’m not._

I’ve already finished it._______ ___________________

4 You've got two brothers and a sister, haven't you? ___Yes, I have. / No, I haven’t. I have two sisters and a brother. ___________________________________

5 You were born in August, weren't you? __Yes, I was. / No, I wasn’t. I was born in July. _

If or whether

whether means if … or not

• She doesn't know if she's passed or not.

• She doesn't know whether she's passed (or whether she's failed).

We use whether when we talk about two different possibilities:

• I don't know whether I've passed or failed!

Note how we use whether in this example:

• I don't know if I should study English at college or not.

• I don't know whether I should study English at college.

• I don't know whether to study English at college.

• I didn't know if I should tell the police or not.

• I didn't know whether I should tell the police.

• I didn't know whether to tell the police.

C) Match the two parts of the sentences.

1 Annie doesn't know d) whether she should marry Hector.

2 Bridget doesn't know c) if she wants to continue working for the TV station or not.

3 Hector doesn't know e) whether to go back to Argentina or stay in England.

4 Nick doesn't know a) if he'll make it as an actor or not.

5 Victoria doesn't know b) whether she should marry George.