QUESTION TAGS

Negative of statements Negative statement (-)Positive tag (+) SubAuxMain VAuxPersonal pronoun Itisnotraining,isit ? Wehaveneverseenthat,havewe ? Hewillnothelp,willhe ? Youarenotstupid,areyou ? Johnshouldnotdriveso fast, shouldhe ? Iamnotstupidboy,amI ?

Negative of statements Negative statement (-)Positive tag (+) SubAuxMain VAuxPersonal pronoun Itisnotrainingisit ? Wehaveneverseenthat,havewe ? Hewillnothelp,willhe ? Youarenotstupid,areyou ? Johnshouldnotdriveso fast, shouldhe ? Iamnotstupidboy,amI ?

USE A question tag is a short question at the end of a statement: He won the prize, didn’t he? question tag We use question tags when we want to check if information is correct.

FORM 1. Use question tags at the end of a sentence: He won the prize, didn’t he? question tag

FORM 2.a. NEGATIVE QUESTION TAG: If the sentence is positive, the question tag is negative: You have seen that film, haven’t you? +- 2.b.POSITIVE QUESTION TAG: If the sentence is negative, the question tag is positive: You haven’t seen that film, have you? - + If the sentence contains a negative word (never, hardly…) the question tag is positive: Ann never goes anywhere, does she? - +

FORM 3. Questions tags consist of … AUXILIARY VERB + PRONOUN: shouldI I shouldn’t laugh, should I? wasn’tshe Sarah was winning,wasn’tshe? We use the auxiliary verb that is used in the previous sentence. If there is no auxiliary verb, se use “do/does” (present tense) and “did” (past tense): don’t You live near here, don’t you? didn’t You turned left, didn’t you? The pronoun refers to the subject of the previous sentence.

FORM 4. Some verbs form question tags differently: I am  aren’t I? I’m helpful, aren’t I? There is  isn’t there? There is a chemist’s near here, isn’t there? There are  aren’t there? There are many shops in the area, aren’t there? This is / That is  isn’t it? That’s your wife over there, isn’t it?

FORM 5. When we answer question tags, we often use short answers: A: You are French, aren’t you? Yes, I amNo, I’m not B: Yes, I am. / No, I’m not.  SHORT ANSWERS A: She’s got a dog, hasn’t she? Yes, she hasNo, she hasn’t B: Yes, she has. / No, she hasn’t.  SHORT ANSWERS A: You smoke, don’t you? Yes, I doNo, I don’t B: Yes, I do. / No, I don’t.  SHORT ANSWERS

FORM 6. Intonation: When we are sure of the answer, the voice goes down in the question tag: John doesn’t like gold, does he?  The speaker knows John doesn’t like gold. When we are not sure of the answer, the voice goes up: They left for Milan, didn’t they?  The speaker doesn’t know if they left for Milan or not.

Question tags I hope you have understood how to use question tags.