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Torsten
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 #3 (permalink) Thu Mar 19, 2009 17:23 pm Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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| Explain me,please, why the correct answer here is (d) did they? |
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 Umasax
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| #4 (permalink) Wed Mar 25, 2009 13:22 pm Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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Because the question is being asked to a PLURAL audience ....... no-one understood.
If your answer was correct, then the question would have been, " You didn't understand that word , did you." ?
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Kitosdad
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| #5 (permalink) Sun Apr 05, 2009 13:19 pm Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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Ok. I just didn't pay atention that "no-one" isn't just one person.
Maria |
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Maria Sarmento
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| #6 (permalink) Sun Apr 05, 2009 14:44 pm Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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Every day you become a little wiser Maria.
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Kitosdad
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| #7 (permalink) Sat Jun 27, 2009 4:31 am Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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| Hi still dont get it correctly can you please make me understand that why the answer is d |
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Jaswinder
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| #8 (permalink) Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:12 am Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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| In my humble opinion, why shouldn't we just think the "No-one" simply as a subject? If so, the correct answer must be (C)[ Didn't they] right? Should we think the "no-one" as a negated subject? (Is there any?) |
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Nuggle
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| #9 (permalink) Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:56 am Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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Nuggle, perhaps instead of reading about negated subjects, you should first start by learning basic grammar.
Is there one?
Are there any?
Kitos.
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Kitosdad
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| #10 (permalink) Sat Jun 27, 2009 14:37 pm Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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| Kitosdad wrote: |
Is there one?
Are there any? |
It is also quite normal (and grammatically correct) to say "Is there any?" It depends on what "any" refers to:
- Are there any eggs in the fridge?
- Is there any cheese in the fridge?
:wink:
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The words "nobody" and "no-one" are called "indefinite pronouns". Although these indefinite pronouns are grammatically singular (third person singular), you need to keep in mind that they basically mean the same thing as "not any people" or "no people" (i.e. people = third person plural).
When we refer back to this sort of indefinite pronoun, we use the plural pronoun "they". Using "he" is not a good option here because that would seem to refer only to a male, and using "she" would seem to refer to only a female.
| Nuggle wrote: |
| In my humble opinion, why shouldn't we just think the "No-one" simply as a subject? If so, the correct answer must be (C)[ Didn't they] right? Should we think the "no-one" as a negated subject? (Is there any?) |
You are right about the word "no-one" being negative. It means the same thing as "not anyone". This negative subject makes the first part of the sentence negative. "No-one understood that word" is a negative sentence.
In the most common type of tag question, a positive (non-negated) form of the verb is used if the the main part of the sentence is negative, and vice versa. This kind of tag question basically asks for confirmation of what has just been stated. The tag question "did they" is correct in this test because the first part of the sentence is negative.
- John forgot to bring his book, didn't he?
- John didn't remember to bring his book, did he?
- Everyone forgot their books, didn't they?
- No one remembered their books, did they?
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Esl_Expert
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| #11 (permalink) Sun Jun 28, 2009 7:37 am Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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| thank you ESL Expert for the answer. Now that's just made sense |
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Nuggle
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| #12 (permalink) Sun Jul 19, 2009 19:27 pm Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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All right. I have a question.
Imagine the situation:
2 students after an exam
A: Task 5 was horrible !
B: I totally agree. There was a lot of difficult words in the reading passage.
A: Yeah, like this 'epistaxis'. I bet more than 99% hadn't known it. Hell ! No-one understood that word, did you ?
Is it possible ? Is it still a question tag ? Because somehow in this sentence "you" refers to one of the people who didn't understood the word.
Or in that case maybe it should be more something like: No-one understood that word. Did you (understand it)? |
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Felixthecat
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| #13 (permalink) Fri Aug 07, 2009 14:28 pm Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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Felix,
i totally agree with you - cause i thought so and chose 'did you?' ;)
however now i have to admit the most possible answer should be 'did they?'.. you think the same, don't you? ;)
Mac |
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Macgyver
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| #14 (permalink) Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:37 am Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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What would be the question tag for...
They have bread for breakfast. |
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Mahesh9jai
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| #15 (permalink) Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:39 am Is this a question tag - "did they"? |
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| I too do believe that the correct answer is (d) because the main verb is in the past so we have to take 'do' support in the past. And as someone pointed, it is being addressed to 'no-one' i.e, the plural subject hence, 'they'. |
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Mahesh9jai
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