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Tag questions
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Tag Questions
Learning objective
Objective
Use tag questions to confirm information.
Question tag
What are?
He is a doctor, isn't he?
A tag questions is a MINI-QUESTION or short question
at the END of a statement.
Purpose
Rules
They are mainly used in speech when we want to:
- confirm that something is true or not, or
- to encourage a reply from the person we are speaking to.
They mean something like: "Is that right?"
or "Do you agree?"
Structure
Positive statement, (-) tag
He is a doctor, isn't he?
You don't like me, do you?
Negative statement, (+) tag
We form the TAG QUESTION with
the auxiliary and the same subject.
Formation
You are a student, aren't you
Other examples
Always opposite
Positive TAG
Negative statement
A subject pronoun is used to replace the noun
Jane isn't a teacher, is she?
Negative TAG
Positive statement
They were happy, weren't they?
Simple Present
When the verb in the main sentence is in the present simple we form the question tag with do / does.
You play the guitar, don't you?
Alison likes tennis, doesn't she?
Simple present and past
Warning
Simple Past
If the verb is in the past simple we use did.
They went to the cinema, didn't they?
She studied in New Zealand, didn't she?
There are some exceptions
Some verbs / expressions have different question tags. For example:
Exceptions
I am - I am attractive, aren't I?
Positive imperative - Stop daydreaming, will / won't you?
Negative imperative - Don't stop singing, will you?
Let's - Let's go to the beach, shall we?
There is / are - There aren't any spiders in the bedroom, are there?
This / that is - This is Paul's pen, isn't it?
Make the tag question
Practice
It's time to go to bed now,
You don't have my keys,
There is no possibility you are wrong,
Our friends left for Cancun yesterday,
I'm not going to have to tell you again,
Let's take some holidays next month,
We've seen that movie before,
He doesn't have classes everyday,