Question Tags Garbage Man

(TESOL Worksheets--Question Tags)
Google: docs, pub
[Note: This game follows the rules for "Garbage Man"--see HERE for explanation.  The sentences are adapted from p.105 of English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy. In my own classes, I used this to supplement Impact 3 p.14]

Kate won’t be late, ____________________?

You’re tired, ____________________?

You’ve got a camera, ____________________?

You weren’t listening  ____________________?

Sue doesn’t know Ann,  ____________________?

Jack’s on holiday,  ____________________?

Kate’s applied for the job,  __________________?

You can speak German,  ___________________?

There are a lot of people here,  ______________?

This isn’t very interesting,  __________________?

Question Tags Presentation

(TESOL Worksheets--Question Tags)
Presentation: slides, pub
[Note: This is from English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy, p.104.  I realize this is somewhat of a questionable area, but I'm counting this as fair use, because I use this presentation to supplement his book (i.e. students are given a copy of page 104, and I use the presentation as a visual aid to talk them through it.).  So you would need to buy the book first in order for this presentation to be of value for you.
In my own classes, I used this to supplement Impact 3 p.14]

Grass Skirts

(TESOL Worksheets--Any Grammar Point, Questions, Question Tags)
Google: docs, pub

[I'm in the process of updating my workshop for Activities that Can Be Used for Any Grammar Point.  So I thought I'd include "Grass Skirts" despite the fact that I personally have rarely used it.  But it's a very popular activity at my school, so in the interest of being thorough, I wanted to include it in the workshop.  I asked a colleague to share an example with me, and he did.  The example being shown here is not my work, but comes from my colleague.  I think it is meant to practice question tags, although it could easily be adapted to several other verb tenses.]

Grass Skirts (Materials: One worksheet per team--cut into strips) (Preparation: create worksheet with various sentences on it.  Cut it into loosely connected strips--20 minutes)

Several sentences are put on a piece of paper.  The paper is cut cut into strips.  The teacher doesn’t actually cut the strips all the way, but each strip is loosely connected to the top of the paper.  (The paper is connected at the top, with strips loosely hanging down--just like a Hawaiian grass skirt.)

Each team has a grass skirt posted at the front of the room.  (If possible, use different colored paper for each team.)  One person from each team runs up and grabs a strip from their grass skirt (tearing it off at the top).  They take it back to their team, where they complete the exercise.  (There is some sort of controlled practice exercise on each strip--e.g. fill in the blank, unscramble the sentence, etc).  After the team completes the exercise, they show it to the teacher.  If it is correct, then they can go and rip off the next strip from their grass skirt.

The first team to finish their grass skirt is the winner.

Cut the paper along the line, but not all the way (leave a little bit connected at the side).  Each team gets a different sheet.  The sheet is posted at the front of the room.  One person from each team runs up, tears off a strip, runs back to their group, and the team completes the sentence.  The teacher checks, and if the sentence is correct, then the team can run to the front and tear off the next sentence.

So your cousins came to the party after all, _____________ they?

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He’d rather eat than sleep, he __________.

---

I am correct, _________ I not?

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He really enjoys his sweets, Peter __________.

---

Everybody’s had some cake _____________ they?

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Those boys need to cut down on junk food, they _______________.

Question Tags with Nobody

(Grammar Questions I Couldn't Answer)

Another one with question tags.
In this case, the sentence was:
Nobody's disagreed with the latest proposal...  The options were "has he?" or "have they?"

My native-speaker intuition was telling me "have they?" was the correct answer.  But since nobody usually takes the singular verb (e.g. Nobody is home), my student wanted to know why.

Once again, I've consulted Practical English Usage by Michael Swan.  And once again, Swan cites this, but doesn't explain it.

We use "they" to refer to nobody, somebody, and everybody (and no one etc.)
Nobody phoned, did they?

(Swan, p.472)

Question Tags and Subjects

(Grammar Questions I Couldn't Answer)

After class, a student came up with her grammar book, and wanted help working through some question tag exercises.

One sentence read:
It'll be a year before we see him again...The student was then prompted to chose between "won't it?" or "won't we?"
"The correct answer is won't it? " I told her.
"It's so confusing," she said.  "I don't know which subject goes with the question tag.  Isn't we the main subject?
"No, It is the main subject of this sentence," I said.  "We is in a subordinate clause."

The very next sentence was:
I believe he's given up smoking...  The choices were "hasn't he?" and "don't I?"
My native speaker intuition was telling me that "hasn't he?" sounded much more natural in this sentence.  But "I believe" was clearly the main clause of the sentence, so this was contradicting what I had told her before.

Update:

I looked this up in Practical English Usage by Michael Swan.  Although Swan does not explain why, he does note that this is the case.
As Swan says:
Note the use of question tags in sentences beginning with I (don't) think and similar expressions
I think he's Norwegian, isn't he?  (NOT...don't I?)

(Swan p.472)

But is there a reason for this?

Question Tags

(TESOL Ideas and Worksheets Subdivisions)

* Question Tags and Subjects
* Question Tags with Nobody
* Grass Skirts
* Question Tags Presentation
* Question Tags Garbage Man