Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: can’t we
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This sentence improvement question checks your knowledge of question tags in English. The given sentence is "We can go out whenever we choose to, isn’t it?" You must select the correct question tag that matches the auxiliary verb and subject of the main clause, or choose "No improvement" if the sentence is already correct. Question tags are short questions added to the end of a statement to seek confirmation.
Given Data / Assumptions:
- Main clause: "We can go out whenever we choose to".
- Current tag: "isn’t it?"
- Options: can’t we, are we not, don’t we, No improvement.
- In standard English, the tag should mirror the auxiliary verb "can" and the subject "we".
Concept / Approach:
The rule for forming question tags is that the auxiliary verb in the statement is repeated in the tag in negative form, and the subject is reflected with the appropriate pronoun. Here, the auxiliary is "can", and the subject is "we". Therefore, the correct question tag should be "can’t we?" (short for "can we not?"). Using "isn’t it?" is incorrect because the main verb is not "is" and the subject is not "it".
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the helping verb in the main clause: "We can go out..." has "can" as the modal auxiliary.Step 2: Identify the subject: the subject is "we".Step 3: Apply the rule: the tag should be negative if the main clause is positive, so "can" becomes "can’t". The pronoun in the tag remains "we".Step 4: Construct the correct tag: "can’t we?"Step 5: Check the options: option A is "can’t we", which matches the required tag.Step 6: "are we not" uses the verb "are", which does not reflect the auxiliary "can".Step 7: "don’t we" uses "do", which also does not reflect the auxiliary "can".Step 8: "No improvement" would keep "isn’t it?", which is clearly mismatched with the main clause.
Verification / Alternative check:
Check the full correct sentence: "We can go out whenever we choose to, can’t we?" This sounds natural and follows the standard pattern used in conversational English. If you try "We can go out whenever we choose to, isn’t it?" the verb "is" and the pronoun "it" do not match the original statement and will sound wrong to a native speaker. The purpose of the tag is to echo the structure of the main clause, not introduce a new subject and verb.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
- "are we not": would be correct after a statement with "we are", such as "We are late, aren’t we?", not after a clause with "we can".- "don’t we": would match a statement like "We go out whenever we choose to, don’t we?", but our sentence explicitly uses "can".- "No improvement": keeps the incorrect tag "isn’t it?" which does not match either the subject or the auxiliary.
Common Pitfalls:
Many learners memorise "isn’t it?" as a general-purpose tag for all statements, but in correct English, the tag must agree with the verb form used in the main clause. Another pitfall is ignoring modals like can, could, will, and should when forming tags. A simple safety check is to repeat the auxiliary and the subject: "We can... can’t we?", "They will... won’t they?", "She should... shouldn’t she?" Following this pattern prevents most tag errors.
Final Answer:
The sentence should be improved to: "We can go out whenever we choose to, can’t we?" so the correct option is "can’t we".
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