582. B. Ph LAB III 43. Question tags - English Grammar

43.  Question tags - English Grammar

 

Use

frequently used in spoken English when you want s.o. to agree or disagree

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Form

positive statement ->question tag negative - You are Tom, aren't you?
negative statement->question tag positive - He isn't Joe, is he?

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Examples

with auxiliaries
You've got a car, haven't you?

without auxiliaries (use: don't, doesn't, didn't)
They play football on Sundays, don't they?
She plays football on Sundays, doesn't she?
They played football on Sundays, didn't they?

Questions tags are used to keep a conversation going. You can agree or refuse to a sentence with a question tag.

You go to school, don't you?
You agree.	You refuse.
Yes, I do.	No, I don't.

You aren't from Germany, are you?
You agree.	You refuse.
No, I'm not.	Yes, I am.

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Questions tags - Special

Although the negative word not is not in the sentence, the sentence can be negative. Then we use the "positive" question tag.

He never goes out with his dog, does he?

have is a main verb in the sentence -> two possibilities

We have a car, _____?
We have a car, haven't we?	We have a car, don't we?
mostly British English	mostly American English

We use will/would with the imperative (Simple Present).

Open the window, will you? Open the window, would you?

Don't open your books, will you?

We use won't with a polite request.

Open the window, won't you?

We use shall after Let's.

Let's take the next bus, shall we?

Auxiliary must

We must be at home at 8 pm, mustn't we?
Yes, we must.	No, we needn't.

43. Question tags

We use tags in spoken English but not in formal written English.

They are not really questions but are a way of asking the other person to make a comment and so keep the conversation open.

Making a tag is very mechanical. To make a tag, use the first auxiliary. If there is no auxiliary, use do, does or did. With a positive sentence, make a negative tag and with a negative sentence, make a positive tag.

·         It's beautiful, isn't it?

·         He has been, hasn't he?

·         You can, can't you?

·         It must be, mustn't it?

·         You know him, don’t you?

·         He finished it, didn't he?

·         He will come, won't he?

·         It isn't very good, is it?

·         It hasn't rained, has it?

·         It can't be, can it?

·         Jenny doesn't know James, does she?

·         They didn't leave, did they?

·         He won’t do it, will he?

Notice these:

·         There isn't an ATM here, is there?

·         Let's have a cup of coffee, shall we?

To reply, use the same auxiliary:

·         It's beautiful, isn't it? ~ Yes, it is. I think it's fabulous.

·         It isn't very good, is it? ~ No, it isn't. In fact, it's terrible.

Although, the rules are very simple and mechanical, in order to use them easily in conversation, they have to be automatic. So you need to hear and practice them very often.