If the verb in the main sentence is be used as a main verb, then be is repeated in the question tag.. If the main sentence does not use a modal auxiliary, helping verb, or be as a main
Trang 16 She is wearing her coat.
7 He could ask for a new assignment
8 It might cause a real argument
9 He fi lled the car up with gas
10 You watched the game last night?
11 He is retiring next year
12 She just bought a new car seat for Timmy
13 He reminded everyone about the meeting on Monday
14 You hate going on long trips these days
15 They have already guessed what they are getting for Christmas
Question tags
A tag is a word or phrase added onto an otherwise already complete sentence Most languages
have what is called a question tag Question tags are not genuine requests for information where
the speaker is seeking new information Question tags are short phrases added to the ends of
sen-tences by speakers to get confi rmation that their audience is following and/or agreeing with what
the speakers are saying A simple question tag is right For example:
You know how to fi ll out these forms, right?
Trang 2Often a question tag is a single fi xed phrase like right in English or nicht wahr in German
The most common and important question tag in English is unusually complex because the form
of the question tag is not fi xed It depends entirely on the grammar of the main sentence Here is
a pair of examples:
You are coming tonight, aren’t you?
You are not coming tonight, are you?
The form of the question tag is determined by the grammar of the main sentence in four
differ-ent ways:
1 Most obviously, there is a positive-negative reversal between the main sentence and the question tag If the main sentence is positive, then the question tag must be negative If the main
sentence is negative, then the question tag must be positive
2 The verb in the question tag is determined by the verb in the main sentence If the verb
in the main sentence is a modal auxiliary or helping verb, then the tag must be that same modal
auxiliary or helping verb For example:
Modal
They should go, shouldn’t they?
We will be ready, won’t we?
Alice can play the oboe, can’t she?
Be
We are going soon, aren’t we?
The boss wasn’t upset, was he?
Have
Joan has fi nished the job, hasn’t she?
The offi ce hadn’t closed early, had it?
If the verb in the main sentence is be used as a main verb, then be is repeated in the question
tag For example:
They were happy with our work, weren’t they?
It isn’t a good time to meet, is it?
(As you have doubtless noticed, these same verbs—modals, helping verb, and be used as a main
verb—also fi gure prominently in forming questions and negatives without using do.)
Trang 3If the main sentence does not use a modal auxiliary, helping verb, or be as a main verb, then the question tag must use do For example:
Roger missed the bus again, didn’t he?
I predicted the outcome of the game, didn’t I?
Senator Blather speaks after dinner, doesn’t he?
If do (usually in the negative) is used in the main sentence, then do must be repeated in the
question tag For example:
He didn’t mean it, did he?
I don’t know, do I?
3 The tense of the tag question must be the same as the tense in the main sentence If the tense in the main sentence is past, then the tag must also be past If the tense in the main is
pres-ent, then the tag must also be present For example, consider the following sentence:
John and Mary are sailing to the island tomorrow, aren’t they?
The question tag is in the present tense because the verb in the main sentence is in the present tense
If the tag were in a different tense, the sentence would be ungrammatical:
X John and Mary are sailing to the island tomorrow, weren’t they?
4 The noun phrase in the question tag is based on the subject noun phrase in the main sen-tence If the subject noun phrase is a pronoun, then that pronoun must be repeated in the
ques-tion tag For example:
They are going to rewrite the letter, aren’t they?
However, if the subject noun phrase in the main sentence is not a pronoun, the noun phrase
in the question tag must be a pronoun that replaces the subject noun phrase in the main sentence
Here are some examples with various kinds of noun phrases in the main sentence:
Proper noun: Barbara called again, didn’t she?
Compound nouns: Tom and Barbara will be there, won’t they?
Abstract noun: The confl icts in the Middle East are not a simple matter, are they?
Gerund: Going to school takes a lot of money, doesn’t it?
Infi nitive: To graduate this fall has always been his goal, hasn’t it?
Noun clause: Where they should live has been an issue with them, hasn’t it?
Trang 4Exercise 13.16
Add a question tag to each of the following sentences
You need a pillow
You need a pillow, don’t you?
1 We won’t get over this easily
2 The group can count on us
3 What he said really made an impact on everyone
4 The CEO and the Board issued a press release
5 The new staff members are sadly lacking in experience
6 The gate agent can’t change our seat assignments
7 Working all the time really wears you down
8 The fi re department couldn’t get there in time
9 To run such a large operation requires a big support staff
10 The article in the Times wasn’t very accurate.
11 The doctors might have to operate
Trang 512 This year’s graduates were all looking for jobs in fi nance.
13 The consultants don’t know what to suggest
14 Who reports to Mrs Johnston won’t be decided till later
15 Trying your best is the important thing
Trang 6The Passive
In most sentences, the subject of the sentence is also the agent or performer of the action of the
verb For example, consider the following sentence:
Mary answered the phone
The subject, Mary, is also the agent, the person who performs the action of answering the phone.
Sometimes, however, we want to use sentences in which the subject is not the agent For example, consider the following sentence:
Mary was promoted last week
Mary is still the nominal subject (the verb was is in the third-person singular to agree with the
singular noun Mary), but Mary is not the agent In other words, Mary is not the person doing
the promoting Instead, she is the recipient of the action of the verb promote She did not promote
anyone; somebody promoted her Accordingly, the sentence is a passive sentence.
Passive sentences in English have a unique grammatical structure: they must contain what
we will call the passive helping verb be There are actually two different helping verbs that use be
in some form: one that is used to form the progressive, and one that is used to form the passive
How can we tell them apart? The answer is by looking at the form of the verb that immediately
follows the helping verb be Compare the following sentences:
be verb
Progressive: We were cleaning out the garage yesterday
be verb
Passive: The garage was cleaned out yesterday
Trang 7As you can see,
be present participle progressive
be past participle passive
A sentence can even be both progressive and passive so long as it meets the requirements: be
present participle (Pres Part) for the progressive and be past participle (Past Part) for the passive
Here is an example of a sentence with both:
The job is being contracted out to a fi rm in Singapore
be Pres Part be Past Part
In order to have both a progressive and a passive, the sentence must contain two different be’s:
one for the progressive, and one for the passive What is tricky is that the verb being plays a role in
both constructions: it is the present perfect tense form that is required for the progressive, and it
is also the helping verb for the passive
Only sentences that contain the sequence be a past participle verb are passive All other
sentences are called active sentences That is, by default, sentences that do not contain the
sequence of be a past participle are automatically classifi ed as active.
Here are some examples of passive sentences with the helping verb be and the past participle
in bold Note that the passive helping verb can be used in combination with other helping verbs
(in italics), sometimes producing rather long and complicated verb sequences:
The movie was fi lmed in Spain.
I was reminded that we have to go to Chicago tomorrow.
The contract will be signed Tuesday.
Your car has been parked on the lower level.
The meeting should have been fi nished by now.
The accident is being reported to the insurance company.
Exercise 14.1
Write active or passive above the verbs in the following sentences as appropriate If the sentence is
passive, confi rm your answer by underlining the verb be and the past participle.
passive
We should have been warned of the risk before we started
1 Mrs Johnston was appointed to the district court
2 The present was wrapped in bright red paper