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Grammar • A2 Level ⏱️ 12 Minutes

Question Tags

Theme: Mushrooms and Fungi 🍄

A cheerful, colorful neo-brutalist illustration of wild mushrooms, fungus, and green mould growing on a mossy fallen log

💡

How to use this lesson

👩‍🏫 For the Teacher

• Use this 12-minute guide to teach learners how question tags work with be, do, and can.

• Check answers together after students finish each of the 4 practice sections.

🎒 For the Learner

• Read the 4 easy rules first and check the mushroom example sentences carefully.

• Complete the 12 quick practice questions below to test your grammar skills.

4 Simple Rules for Question Tags

Grammar Rules

Swap positive and negative

Positive ↔ Negative

If your main sentence is positive, make your tag negative. If your sentence is negative, make your tag positive.

Example A (Positive + Negative tag)

These logs are wet, aren't they?

Example B (Negative + Positive tag)

The ground isn't wet, is it?

Keep the helping word

Same helping word

Repeat is, are, can in the tag. When the sentence has a regular verb, use do or does.

With can

She can cook, can't she?

With a verb like likes

Your brother likes mushrooms, doesn't he?

Always end with a pronoun

Ends with it, they, he...

Always end your tag with a pronoun (it, they, he, she, we, you). Never repeat the noun in the tag.

✅ Correct pattern

That mushroom is big, isn't it?

Uses "it" to replace "that mushroom".

⚠️ Avoid this mistake

That mushroom is big, isn't that mushroom?

Do not repeat nouns inside question tags.

Voice tone changes the meaning

Voice up or down

When your voice goes up ↗, you ask a real question. When your voice goes down ↘, you check something you already know.

Checking facts example

It is very quiet in the forest, isn't it?

🔊 Listen

Practice Exercises

12 items from easy to hard • Test all 4 rules

12 Questions

A Choose the correct sentence (Items 1 - 3)

1. Choose the sentence with the correct question tag:

(pronoun)

____ a. This rare fungus is alive, isn't this fungus? ____ b. This rare fungus is alive, isn't it? ____ c. This rare fungus is alive, is it? ____ d. This rare fungus is alive, don't it?

2. Choose the correct tag sentence:

(helping word)

____ a. Green mould cannot grow in dry places, can it? ____ b. Green mould cannot grow in dry places, doesn't it? ____ c. Green mould cannot grow in dry places, can't it? ____ d. Green mould cannot grow in dry places, is it?

3. When your voice goes down ↘ at the end of the tag, what do you do?

(voice)

____ a. I say that I do not know. ____ b. I ask a real question. ____ c. I check something I already know. ____ d. I say no.

B Add a question tag to each sentence (Items 4 - 6)

4. Complete the sentence by adding the tag:

(common)

"This mushroom is very common, ___?"

____

5. Complete the sentence by adding the tag:

(log)

"These old logs rot quickly in damp weather, ___?"

____

6. Complete the sentence by adding the tag:

(inside)

"Tiny spores do not live inside the fungus head, ___?"

____

C Fill in the missing word (Items 7 - 9)

7. Type the missing pronoun:

(above)

"The cap grows above the soil, doesn't ____ ?"

8. Type the missing word:

(direction)

"When you really ask a question, your voice goes ____ at the end of the tag."

9. Type the missing helping word:

(spread)

"Mould spores can spread in wet air, ____ they?"

D Correct the error in a chat message (Items 10 - 12)

10. Fix the wrong question tag in Alex's message:

(poison)

💬 Alex 10:14 AM

"Hey! Those red mushrooms have dangerous poison, don't it?"

Type the correct question tag: ____

11. Fix the wrong question tag in Mia's message:

(opposite)

💬 Mia 10:16 AM

"You can't eat wild fungi without checking, can't you?"

Type the correct question tag: ____

12. Fix the wrong question tag in Sam's message:

(helping word)

💬 Sam 10:20 AM

"The forest looks beautiful in autumn, isn't it?"

Type the correct question tag: ____

Grammar: Question Tags

Question Tags

How to use this lesson

4 Simple Rules for Question Tags

Swap positive and negative

Keep the helping word

Always end with a pronoun

Voice tone changes the meaning

Practice Exercises

A Choose the correct sentence (Items 1 - 3)

B Add a question tag to each sentence (Items 4 - 6)

C Fill in the missing word (Items 7 - 9)

D Correct the error in a chat message (Items 10 - 12)

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