5 exercises — practise forming tag questions with auxiliaries and modals, and learn when they are appropriate in technical meetings, chat, and documentation.
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
A DevOps engineer wants to confirm a technical assumption with a colleague. Which tag question is grammatically correct?
"The Redis cache is enabled... isn't it?" is correct. The main clause uses the present simple "is" (positive statement), so the tag uses the auxiliary "is" negated → "isn't it?" Rule: positive statement + negative tag. The subject of the tag must match the subject of the main clause; since "the cache" = "it", the tag uses "it". Option B ("is it?") — positive tag after positive statement — is used for genuine surprise or scepticism ("Really? Is it?"), not for confirmation. Option C ("doesn't it?") wrongly uses "do/does" — the auxiliary must match: the main clause uses "is", so the tag uses "is". Option D ("wasn't it?") incorrectly shifts to past tense.
2 / 5
Which tag question correctly follows a negative statement?
"The tests don't run in parallel, do they?" is correct. Rule: negative statement + positive tag. The main clause is negative ("don't run"), so the tag must be positive ("do they?"). The auxiliary in the tag ("do") matches the auxiliary in the main clause ("don't" = do + not). The subject "the tests" = "they" in the tag. Option A uses a negative tag after a negative statement — double negative, wrong. Option C uses "aren't" — wrong auxiliary (the main clause uses "do", not "be"). Option D uses "isn't it" — wrong auxiliary and wrong pronoun (tests = they, not it).
3 / 5
A scrum master is closing a sprint retrospective. Which use of a tag question is most effective for checking team agreement?
Option A is the best example: the tag question "haven't we?" after a positive perfect statement ("we've agreed") is grammatically correct (positive → negative tag, "have" matches "have", "we" = "we"). Following it with "Does anyone have concerns?" is excellent meeting facilitation — it invites dissent rather than just seeking passive agreement. Option B is grammatically correct but undermines the scrum master's authority ("I'm not sure about this" makes the agreement seem unresolved). Option C uses "isn't it?" — wrong auxiliary (main clause uses "have", not "be") and wrong subject pronoun. Option D ("didn't we?") shifts to past simple, inconsistent with the present perfect "have agreed".
4 / 5
Which tag question correctly uses a modal verb in a technical context?
"...shouldn't it?" is correct. When the main clause contains a modal verb ("should"), the tag question uses the same modal negated: should → shouldn't. Subject "this endpoint" = "it" in the tag. Positive statement → negative tag. Option B ("should it?") is a positive tag after a positive statement — used for rhetorical questioning or scepticism ("Should it? I'm not so sure"), not for confirmation. Option C ("doesn't it?") incorrectly uses "do/does" — always match the modal. Option D ("won't it?") uses the wrong modal — "won't" introduces future prediction, while "should" expresses expectation/obligation. The modal in the tag must be the same modal as in the main clause.
5 / 5
Which statement about using tag questions in IT professional communication is most accurate?
Option B correctly describes the register distribution of tag questions in IT. In spoken contexts — sprint meetings, daily stand-ups, technical calls, team discussions — tag questions are natural and effective for confirming shared understanding, checking agreement, and inviting participation ("The deployment looks stable, doesn't it?"). In written chat (Slack, Teams), short tag questions appear naturally. However, tag questions are rare in technical documentation, API references, formal reports, and business emails — these contexts use direct statements, imperative sentences, or explicit questions ("Is the cache enabled?"). Option A is too restrictive. Option C is too broad. Option D is incorrect — non-native speakers should learn tag questions as they are common in business English spoken contexts.