Question Tags – JSS2 English Lesson Note (Third Term)

A question tag is a short question added to the end of a statement to ask the listener to confirm it.

What topics are covered in this lesson?

1. Grammar: Question tags
2. Comprehension: The Search for Honey
3. Vocabulary development: Speaking
4. Writing: Letter to a friend
5. Literature in English: Sunrise poetry

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. form question tags for positive and negative statements, including statements with no auxiliary verb;
2. say what the passage The Search for Honey is about;
3. use the words tell, discuss, chat, grumble and murmur correctly;
4. write a letter to a friend about a recent visit;
5. identify diction, mood and personification in the poem The Dawn.

Grammar: what are question tags?

Question tags are short questions used to get the person we are talking to confirm that what we say is correct.

• Position: the tag comes at the end of a statement, after a comma.
• Order: the subject follows the auxiliary or modal verb, as in “We’re going, aren’t we?”
• Purpose: the speaker expects the listener to agree or correct the statement.
• Punctuation: the tag ends with a question mark.

How do we form a question tag?

A positive statement takes a negative tag, and a negative statement takes a positive tag.

Follow these steps:

1. Find the auxiliary or modal verb in the statement.
2. Decide whether the statement is positive or negative.
3. Use the opposite form of that verb for the tag (negative tags are usually contracted, such as isn’t, can’t, won’t).
4. Add a pronoun that stands for the subject (Mary becomes she, the boys become they).

Which auxiliary do we use for different statements?

What if the statement has no auxiliary verb?

When a statement has no auxiliary, we supply do, does or did to form the tag.

• Example statement: They ate rice and beans last Thursday.
• Step 1: imagine the form “they did eat” to find the auxiliary.
• Step 2: use the opposite form, “didn’t they”.
• Result: They ate rice and beans last Thursday, didn’t they?
• Present simple: use do or does, as in “The man goes to his workshop every day, doesn’t he?”

What are the special cases?

• Words with a negative meaning: never, seldom, hardly and rarely make the statement negative, so the tag is positive. Example: “Tinuke seldom comes late, does she?”
• I am: the tag is “aren’t I”. Example: “I am early, aren’t I?”
• Let’s: the tag is “shall we”. Example: “Let’s go, shall we?”
• Commands: the tag is usually “will you”. Example: “Close the door, will you?”
• There is or there are: use “there” in the tag. Example: “There is water, isn’t there?”

What mistakes do students make with question tags?

• Repeating the noun: write “Mary is tall, isn’t she?” and not “isn’t Mary?”
• Using the same form twice: a positive statement with a positive tag is wrong in this lesson.
• Forgetting the negative meaning: “He hardly eats, does he?” takes a positive tag.
• Missing do, does or did: a statement like “She sings” needs “doesn’t she”.

How do we reply to a question tag?

• Agreeing with a positive statement: “The girl has money, hasn’t she?” Yes, she has.
• Agreeing with a negative statement: “He won’t go, will he?” No, he won’t.
• Rule: the reply uses the same subject and auxiliary as the tag.

Evaluation

Effective English JSS 2, p. 170, Practice 2 (1-8).

Reading assignment

Effective English JSS 2, p. 170.

Comprehension: what is The Search for Honey about?

The Search for Honey is a passage about school boys who go into the bush to look for honey.

• Source: the passage is an extract from Kola Onadipe’s The Adventure of Souza.
• Main event: the boys travel towards the bush in a bid to get honey.
• Rules of the game: on several occasions, the boys remind themselves of the rules.
• On the way: they discuss what their courage will earn them in school.
• Plans: they also talk about what they will do with the honey.

Evaluation

Effective English JSS 2, p. 169, Practice 3 (1-8).

Reading assignment

Effective English JSS 2, pp. 168 to 169.

Vocabulary development: which words describe speaking?

Tell, discuss, chat, grumble and murmur are five verbs that describe different ways of speaking.

• Tell: to give information, e.g. He told him the news.
• Discuss: to talk about something (do not use “about” after “discuss”). These sentences mean the same:
  • We talked about the accident.
  • We discussed the accident.
• Chat: to talk with friends about everyday things, e.g. The girls chat after school.
• Grumble: to keep on complaining unhappily, e.g. The workers grumble about low pay.
• Murmur: to say something softly and quietly, e.g. She murmured a prayer.

Evaluation

Effective English JSS 2, p. 168, Practice 2.

Reading assignment

Effective English JSS 2, p. 167.

Writing: how do we write a letter to a friend?

A letter to a friend is an informal letter that gives news or an account of something, such as a recent visit.

Your task is to write to a friend of about your age and give an account of your recent visit. Include these points:

1. Say why you went there (e.g. to see a friend in a hospital, to see a factory at work, to see what happens in a coal mine).
2. Include a paragraph describing the place (check page 175 for details about the description).
3. Say what you did there, or what you saw there.

For this letter, choose any kind of place you like (e.g. a college, a market, a hotel).

What are the parts of a friendly letter?

• Address and date: your address and the date go at the top right.
• Greeting: begin with a friendly greeting such as “Dear Ada”.
• Opening: ask about the health of your friend and his or her family.
• Body: give the reason for the visit, describe the place, then say what you did or saw.
• Ending: end with friendly greetings and inquiries about your friend’s family.
• Closing and name: write a friendly closing such as “Your friend” and sign your name.

Evaluation

A friend of yours had been absent from school for about a month due to illness. Write a letter to him or her describing some interesting things that happened in the school during his or her absence.

Reading assignment

Effective English JSS 2, p. 175.

Literature: what is the poem The Dawn about?

The Dawn is a poem about the coming of a new day.

What is the theme of The Dawn?

• Main idea: the poet describes the struggle between light and darkness.
• Outcome: light eventually takes over from the darkness of the night.
• Ending: towards the end, the poet makes the new day work in his favour.

What poetic devices are used in The Dawn?

The poem uses diction, mood and tone, and personification.

Diction

Diction is the poet’s choice of words.

• Simple words: the poem is straightforward and anyone can understand it.
• Examples: “rise and walk”, “take over” and “welcome”.
• Tense: the poet uses the present simple tense.
• Effect of the tense: it shows that dawn is a habitual, everyday action.

Mood and tone

Mood and tone describe the feeling of the poem and the attitude of the poet.

• Attitude: the poet is full of admiration for the herald of the new day.
• Expression: the poet happily expresses himself.
• Example: “a great struggling in the sky”.

Personification

Personification is giving human qualities or actions to things that are not human.

• “light wants to take over from darkness”
• “No, darkness says to the light”
• “light that gives new look to the day”

Evaluation

1. Write out five present tense sentences from the poem.
2. Write a word to replace this phrase: the first appearance of light.
3. Apart from the examples given in the poem, The Dawn, write three examples of personification and state their meanings.

Reading assignment

Effective English JSS 2, p. 167.

Evaluation

Complete the following sentences with the correct expressions.

1. The man goes to his workshop every day, ____________? Yes, he ____________.
2. Tinuke seldom comes to school these days, ____________?
3. Judith isn’t a very honest girl, ____________? ____________
4. Rose hardly does her laundry on Saturday, ____________? ____________
5. They had a party last night, ____________? ____________

Assignment

Complete the three sections below at home.

Section A: Choose the best word or phrase for each space

Read the passage and decide which word or phrase, A, B, C or D, best fits each space.

The causes of sickness and death were largely _1_ diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, and smallpox. Such diseases can easily spread from one sufferer to another.

Victims are taken to the _2_ for treatment. Many victims are not taken for medication due to _3_ of many families. Medical doctors would _4_ injections for patients who would be required to purchase some _5_ from the pharmacy department on the hospital premises.

Section B: Passive voice

Change the following statements to the passive voice.

1. He drove the car.
2. They ate the food.
3. We did the work.
4. My mother wrote two letters.
5. She drew the plan.

Section C: Question tags and replies

Put in the appropriate question tags and replies to the following statements.

Example: The girl has money, hasn’t she? Yes, she has.

1. The principal is a kind man, ____________? ____________
2. He won’t go to work, ____________? ____________
3. Mary cannot write a letter, ____________? ____________
4. David came here yesterday, ____________? ____________
5. The dog eats rice, ____________? ____________