28th January

Grammar Test - Let's see what you've learned/remembered so far...but before we do.  What are 'Tag Questions'?

We use tags in spoken English but not in formal written English.

They are not really questions but are a way of asking the other person to make a comment and so keep the conversation open.

Making a tag is very mechanical. To make a tag, use the first auxiliary. If there is no auxiliary, use do, does or did. With a positive sentence, make a negative tag and with a negative sentence, make a positive tag.

• It's beautiful, isn't it?
• He has been, hasn't he?
• You can, can't you?
• It must be, mustn't it?
• You know him, don’t you?
• He finished it, didn't he?
• He will come, won't he?

• It isn't very good, is it?
• It hasn't rained, has it?
• It can't be, can it?
• Jenny doesn't know James, does she?
• They didn't leave, did they?

Notice these:

• There isn't an ATM here, is there?

To reply, use the same auxiliary:

• It's beautiful, isn't it? ~ Yes, it is. I think it's fabulous.
• It isn't very good, is it? ~ No, it isn't. In fact, it's terrible.

Although, the rules are very simple and mechanical, in order to use them easily in conversation, they have to be automatic. So you need to hear and practice them very often.

Here's the test! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B82Fl6MNfXZLaThnQ0Y3QkFaOFE/view?usp=sharing

A judge noted that Nutella "is the trade name of a spread"

A recently-born baby named Nutella was renamed by a court in the French city of Valenciennes after a judge ruled that the parents’ decision to the name the child after a food was against the child’s interest, according to a new report in the newspaper La Voix Du Nord.

“The name ‘Nutella’ given to the child is the trade name of a spread,” the court’s decision read, according to a translation. “And it is contrary to the child’s interest to be wearing a name like that can only lead to teasing or disparaging thoughts.”

The judge renamed the child Ella after the parents failed to show up at a court appointed day in November. The baby was born in September.

Vocabulary

To tease - se moquer de

disparaging - désobligeant