ENGLISH LANGUAGE

CLASS 4
LESSON-3

QUESTION TAGS
DATE- 28.4.21

Q: What is question tag?

Ans: A question tag is a short question placed at the end of a statement,

usually in informal English.

Examples:
a. “She has written a beautiful poetry, hasn’t she?”
b. “We are tired of this heat, aren’t we?”

Q: How are question tags formed?

Ans: The following guidelines need to be followed while adding a question tag
to an existing sentence:

1. The question tag consists of only two words.

Example-1:

“She has made a beautiful painting, hasn’t she?”

Example-2:

“We are proud of her, aren’t we?”

hasn’t she?/ aren’t we? (as in the above examples) It has the same subject
as the statement.
 Example-3:

“Mina has played very well, hasn’t she?”

We can use a pronoun of the same person as the subject here “she is being
used as a pronoun”

2. If the main sentence has an auxiliary verb, the auxiliary verb is repeated in
the question tag.

Examples:

• She has eaten all the rice, hasn’t she?

• You haven’t seen this film, have you?

3. If the main sentence does not have any auxiliary verb, we use
do/does/did in the question tag. Egs of auxiliary verbs- (Be, do, have,
can, may, will, shall etc. are auxiliary verbs. They are called helping
verbs).

Examples:

• She won the first prize, didn’t she?

• He eats fish, doesn’t he?

4. The tense remains same.

5. If the statement is positive, the question tag is negative.

Examples-

• We are proud of her (+ ve), aren’t we (- ve)?

• Your sister cooks well (+ ve), doesn’t she(- ve)?

6. If the statement is negative, the question tag is positive.

Examples-

• You haven’t learnt painting in any school (-ve), have you (+ve)?
• Mohit doesn’t work hard (-ve), does he (+ve)?

7. In negative question tags, we usually use short form of negatives:

 haven’t, aren’t.

8. If the sentence starts with “Let us…”, the question tag used is “shall we?”

9. If the sentence starts with “I am”, the question tag used is “aren’t I?”

LET US SEE SOME EXAMPLES (VERBAL DISCUSSION)

1. Q- John is at work. (positive)

2. Q- He would always excel in

class. (positive)

3. Q- They do not live in India. (negative)

4. Q- You should not be rude to your elders. (negative)

5. Q- I am clever. (positive)

6. Q- I am a student of this school. (positive)

SOLUTION-

1. ANS- John is at work, is’nt he?

2. ANS- He would always excel in class, would’nt he?

3. ANS- They don’t /do not live in India, do they?

4. ANS- You should not be rude to your elders, should you?

5. ANS- I am clever, aren’t I?

6. ANS- I am a student of this school, are

  CLASSWORK: ADD QUESTION TAGS TO THE BLANKS:
1. Mr McGuinness is from Ireland, he?
2. The car isn't in the garage, it?
3. You are John, you?
4. She went to the library yesterday, she?
5. He didn't recognize me, he?
6. Cars pollute the environment, they?
7. The trip is very expensive, it?
8. A rooster can’t lay an egg, ______?
9. Mr. harry hasn’t finished his work, ________?
10. Reena won’t finish the housework on time, ________?
11. Sharon goes for a walk at weekends, ________?
12. He wants to keep a lizard as a pet, ________?
13. His father isn’t an athlete, ______?
14. Ramesh didn’t come to the wedding, ______?
15. She has eaten at a Chinese restaurant, _______?

 HOMEWORK

EXERCISE 7 (pg no -9 of Essentials of English Grammar and composition)