Open the door for me, ________?

[sitifan]

Open the door for me, ________?
(A) will you
(B) won't you
(C) don't you
(D) all right

The answer to the above question is option A. Are the other options also acceptable?

 

[jutfrank]

I'll say no but I expect others might argue that (B) is possible, and maybe (D) too. Still, the answer that the test writer wants is (A).

When you make this kind of post about these multiple choice test questions, you really ought to ask whether the question is valid, not whether certain answers are 'acceptable'. As teachers, that's what we should be discussing.

 

[Piscean]

You asked a very similar question here, sitifan

 

[Tarheel]

@sitifan When I saw the thread title one word popped into my mind, and I'm sticking with that one.

@Piscean That one is similar in structure, but it's different -- meaningfully so.

 

[jutfrank]

I've probably asked you this several times before, sitifan, but who writes these questions? Is it a colleague of yours? Does he/she work at the same place as you? Are they trying to follow a syllabus? What exactly is being tested here? If you tell us exactly what you're trying to do, maybe we can be more helpful. We can't say with much confidence if the question is valid if we don't know what's being tested.

 

[sitifan]

I've probably asked you this several times before, sitifan, but who writes these questions? Is it a colleague of yours? Does he/she work at the same place as you? Are they trying to follow a syllabus? What exactly is being tested here? If you tell us exactly what you're trying to do, maybe we can be more helpful. We can't say with much confidence if the question is valid if we don't know what's being tested.

It's an exercise on tag questions, written by a Taiwanese teacher of English.

 

[PeterCW]

As a native BrE speaker I would usually just use "please".

 

[jutfrank]

So are you saying it's not a test but just an exercise? What exactly is the exercise trying to practise? Why isn't there more context? What have the learners already been taught in preparation for this exercise?

Do you know who this Taiwanese teacher of English is? Is he/she properly qualified?

 

[Tarheel]

As a native BrE speaker I would usually just use "please".

That's the word.

 

[Tarheel]

@sitifan I got you mixed up with somebody else. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee it will never happen again.

 

[jutfrank]

I wonder why you don't want to answer my questions, sitifan. Is this Taiwanese teacher of English yourself?

I work as a teacher trainer. If I can understand what you're doing, I may be able to help.

 

[sitifan]

So are you saying it's not a test but just an exercise? What exactly is the exercise trying to practise? Why isn't there more context? What have the learners already been taught in preparation for this exercise?
Do you know who this Taiwanese teacher of English is? Is he/she properly qualified?

It's quoted from a question bank. I believe that the collection of questions are edited by Taiwanese teachers of English. I don't know who they are. The questions stored in the question bank can be reused in different quizzes and exercises.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's quoted from a question bank. I believe that the collection of questions are is edited by Taiwanese teachers of English. I don't know who they are. The questions stored in the question bank can be reused in different quizzes and exercises.

Is it an online question bank? Is it publicly available? Are there no contact details on it to enable users to contact the hosts or editors of the site?

 

[sitifan]

Is it an online question bank? Is it publicly available? Are there no contact details on it to enable users to contact the hosts or editors of the site?

It's not publicly available. I think users can contact the hosts or editors by email.

(https://www.hle.com.tw/

 

[jutfrank]

So you use this question bank in your classes as supplementary practice? Is that right?

I'm interested to know what exactly the students are practising. In this case, is it that they will have already looked at the use of 'will you' for commands? Or are they going into this question completely blind?

 

[Tarheel]

Life is not a multiple choice question. What do I mean by that? Well, I wouldn't spend much time studying that. Why is that? Well, they're not used very often, and if you hear one and have trouble understanding it you can easily ask for clarification. (My opinion.)

The real world is not multiple choice. It's pass or fail.

 

[emsr2d2]

The real world is not multiple choice. It's pass or fail.

True but English is very much multiple choice. There's frequently more than one way to say something and the speaker chooses the most natural and appropriate option for the situation.

 

[Tarheel]

@emsr2d2 It's true that there is often more than one way to say something. It's also true that I rarely debate with myself what word to use. I just say what comes naturally (so to speak).

(Thanks to @sitifan )

 

[sitifan]

@emsr2d2 It's true that there is often more than way to say something. It's also true that I rarely debate with myself what word to use. I just say what comes naturally (so to speak).

more than one way

 

[sitifan]

So you use this question bank in your classes as supplementary practice? Is that right?

I'm interested to know what exactly the students are practising. In this case, is it that they will have already looked at the use of 'will you' for commands? Or are they going into this question completely blind?

I use this question bank as supplementary practice. My students will have already looked at the use of 'will you' for commands.