Question Tag

A question tag is made up of an auxiliary verb + a personal pronoun.

A question tag is used at the end of sentences, to ask for confirmation of something we are not sure about, or to ask for agreement.

Positive sentences are followed by negative-tags, while negative sentences are followed by positive-tags.

Examples:

            ·         You Like Tea,don’t you?

            ·         It isn’t raining,is it?

            ·         Roni should try harder,shouldn’t he?

            ·         Those men won’t help us,will they?

The meaning of a question tag depends on the intonation.

a. If the intonation of your voice drops on the tag, then you aren’t making a question,

but you are asking someone to agree with you.

Examples:

·         “It’s a nice day, isn’t it?” “Yes, it’s beautiful”

·         “Marsha doesn’t look well today, does she?” “No, she looks very tired”

·         “He’s very smart. He’s got a lot of knowladge. Hasn’t he?”

b. If the intonation of your voice goes up on the tag, it means you are making a questions.

Examples:

·         “You haven’t see Randy today, have you?” “No, I’m afraid I haven’t”

·         “You don’t know where my bag is,do you?” “Sorry, I have no idea”

Exceptions:

a. After “Let’s ...”,the question tag should be “shall we”.

Examples:

·         Let’s go for lunch, shall we?

·         Let’s start studying, shall we?

b. After “Don’t ...”, the question tag is “will you”.

Examples:

·         Don’t be late, will you?

·         Don’t sleep late, will you?

c. After “I’m ...”, the negative question tag is “aren’t I”.

Examples:

·         I’m right, aren’t I?

·         I’m the winner, aren’t I?

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