TAG QUESTIONS

WHAT IS QUESTION TAG?

It is a grammatical structure
in which a declarative statement
or an imperative
is turned into a question
by adding an
interrogative fragment

Example:
You can come to the party tonight, can’t you?
declarative statement question tag
USES
• more common in colloquial spoken
usage than in formal written usage

• indicator of politeness or emphasis

• they do not expect an answer

THE GRAMMATICAL FORM

AUXILIARY

THE NEGATION
THE NEGATION
a positive sentence has a negative
tag and vice versa

She is French, isn't she?

She's not French, is she?
AUXILIARY

The auxiliary has to agree with the tense, aspect and modality
of the verb in the preceding sentence.

Example: He reads a lot of books, doesn't he?

isn't he?
He's reading this book,
can't he?
He can read this book,
shouldn't he?
He should read this book,
didn't he?
He read this book,
hasn't he?
He's read this book,
won't he?
He'll read this book,
A special case occurs when the main verb is to be in
a simple tense.
Here the tag question repeats the main verb, not an
auxiliary:

This is a book, isn't it?

You are David’s sister, aren’t you?
We are not little children, are we?
I am clever, aren’t I?
 have
If the main verb is to have,
either solution is possible:

He has a book, hasn't he?

He has a book, doesn't he?
He has studied for today test, hasn’t he?
 don’t, doesn’t, didn’t
Without auxiliaries, use don’t, doesn’t, didin’t

They play football on Sundays, don’t they?

He plays football on Sundays, doesn’t he?

They played football on Sundays, didn’t they?

THE BASIC STRUCTURE
statements Question tag
+ -
Positive statement, negative tag?
Snow is white, isn’t it?
- +
Negative statement, positive tag?
You don’t like me, do you?
 Special Case
He never goes out with his dog, does he?

Open the window, will you?

Open the window, would you?
Open the window, won’t you? for more polite request.

Let’s take the next bus, shall we?

 The Exercise
Complete these sentences with question tags.
1. You’re coming to the party,______________?
aren’t you?
2. It wasn’t very difficult, _______________?
was it?
3. It won’t be interesting, ______________?
will it?
4. They used to live in New Orleans, ___________?
didn’t they?
5. They have better team, ______________?
haven’t they?
don’t they?