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Topic: Question Tags |
4 June 2002 |
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Hello, guys. How are you doing? It has been hot recently,
hasn't it? Students in Thailand are on a school break now, aren't they?
Some of you find my questions annoying, don't you? I can't help it.
These small questions at the end of the statements are call question tags or tag questions.
They are used to check the information when you are not sure or to get a confirmation to what you say.
Here are some examples,
You haven't seen Joe, have you?
Your friend is coming, isn't she?
She doesn't know my number, does she?
They are not coming to the party, aren't they?
Your dog can swim, can't he?
In question tags we use helping verbs like do, have, will, was, etc. And we normally
use a negative question tag after a positive sentence and vice versa. |
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Positive sentence |
Negative tag |
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John will be late, |
won't he? |
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There were a lot of people at the conference, |
weren't there? |
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You should study hard, |
shouldn't you? |
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It's a beautiful day, |
isn't it? |
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Negative sentence |
Positive tag |
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John won't be late, |
will he? |
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They don't like pets, |
do they? |
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They haven't got a car, |
have they? |
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You never smoke, |
do you? |
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We hardly go out at night, |
do we? |
Words like 'never, hardly, rarely' have the same meaning
as a negative sentence so the tags must be positive.
Again there are some special cases with question tags. |
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I am too old for a roller coaster, |
aren't I? (NOT am I not?) |
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We use the tag 'shall we?' after let's, |
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Let's go to a movie, |
shall we? |
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After the imperative (request or order), we use 'will you?' |
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Be quiet, |
will you? |
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Don't open the window, |
will you? |
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The meaning of the questions depends on your intonation, rising or falling tone.
If your voice goes up at the end of the sentence, you are asking a question because you are not sure about what the statement. |
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You haven't seen Joe today, have you? |
No, I'm afraid not. |
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Your friend is coming, isn't she? |
Yes, she is coming soon. |
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She doesn't know my number, does she? |
No, I never gave it to her. |
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They are not coming to the party, aren't they? |
No, they are busy. |
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Your dog can swim, can't he? |
Of course, he can. |
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But if your voice goes down at the end of the sentence,
you are not really asking a question. You just want the listener to agree with you. |
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It's a beautiful day, isn't it? |
Yes, lovely |
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Bill doesn't look well today, does he? |
No. He looks very tired. |
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The baby has his father's eyes, hasn't he? |
Yes, he does. |
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This is nice, isn't it? |
Yeah! |
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You finished your paper, didn't you? |
Yes, all done. |
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To respond to a question tag, don't mind the question. Just think of the truth. This is fun, isn't it? (with a falling tone) |
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Exercise: Question Tags |
| Directions: Supply the correct tags for these sentences. |
 1. Hurry up, __________ ? |
| 2. You havent see this movie, __________? |
| 3. He knows that, __________? |
| 4. You never told my secrets, __________? |
| 5. Promise me not to tell anyone, __________? |
| 6. I can count on you, __________? |
| 7. She is rarely here on time, __________? |
| 8. Lets hit the road, __________? |
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Answers |
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