Question Tags Explained

1. They are short questions added to sentences, asking for Agreement or confirmation. 2. We always use the auxiliaries to make question tags. If there is no auxiliary in the sentence, we add "do, does, or did", depending on the tense. 3. There are two kinds of question tags : (a) Affirmative statements (Negative interr tags) eg: Peter helped you, didn’t he? (b) Negative statements (Affirmative interr tags) eg: That isn’t Tom, is it ? There wasn’t enough time, was there?

N.B. :  The subject of the tag is always a pronoun.  Negative verbs in the tags are usually contracted. (didn’t you? did you not?)  Irregular tag : (a) I’m late, aren’t I ? (b) Let’s go, shall we ? (c) Edward lives here, doesn’t he ? (d) You found your passport, didn’t you ? (e) Mary’s coming tomorrow, isn’t she ? (f) Mary’s just come home, hasn’t she ? (g) Mary’d written before you phoned, hadn’t she ? (h) Mary’d come if you asked her, wouldn’t she ? (i) Mary’d rather not tell the truth, would she ? (j) Mary’d better not tell the truth, had she ?

4. Statements containing words such as :  neither, no, none, no one, nobody, nothing +  scarcely, barely, hardly, hardly ever, rarely, and seldom are treated as Negative statements and followed by an ordinary interrogative (h) No salt is allowed, is it ? (i) Nothing was said, was it ? (j) Peter hardly ever studies, does he ?

5. When the subject of the sentence is : anyone, no one, anybody, nobody, none, neither, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, we use the pronoun “They” as subject of the tag. (k) I don’t think anyone will come, will they? (l) No one would object, would they? (m) Neither of them complained, did they? (n) Everyone warned you, didn’t they? (o) Someone had recognized him, hadn’t they?

Quiz  Leonard Cohen is a great singer, ___ ___?  isn’t he  It isn't very warm today, ___ ___?  is it  I didn't bring enough money, ___ ___?  did I  The children won't want to go to bed early, ___?  will they  You have already seen Lord of the Rings, ___ ___?  haven’t you  We can't keep our canary in the hotel room, ___ ___?  can we  England would like to win another World Cup, ___ ___?  wouldn’t they

Quiz 2  You don't smoke, ___?  do you  You haven't got a car, ___?  have you  You haven't been to London, ___?  have you  You aren't thirty-five, ___?  are you  Tom is getting something for Sue, ___?  isn’t he  There's some milk in the refrigerator, ___?  isn’t there  Susan can bring some food, ___?  can’t she

Quiz 3  I'm early, ___?  aren’t I  Your neighbors went on vacation, ___?  didn’t they  You wanted that,_____ ?  didn’t you  He will be coming _____ ?  won’t he  You may think you know the answer but you don't____ ?  do you  Let’s take a break, ____?  shall we

Quiz 4  You don’t like football, ____?  do you  Oh, shut up, ____?  will you  Don’t be too upset about it, ____?  will you  Say something to me in Greek, ___?  will/would you  Help me with these bags, ____?  will/would you

Quiz 5  Nobody's got to leave early, ?  have they  You have to arrive before half past eight, ?  don’t you  I'm in trouble, ?  aren’t I  You'd rather not tell me, ?  wouldn’t you  That's the guy who was on TV the other night, ?  isn’t it  That's the guy that won the pools, ?  isn’t it  He'd better try harder, ?  hadn’t he  Everybody looked so miserable, ?  didn’t they

Quiz 6  They never work, ___?  do they  Nobody understands, _____?  do they  Everybody was laughing at him, ____?  weren’t they  Nobody's perfect, _____?  are they  She'd 10 francs in her pocket, ____?  hadn’t she