tag question 4

A tag question is used at the end of a Statement Sentence to get the confirmation from the listener, or just to express one’s doubt.. A question sentence, on the contrary, is used to g

or Question Tags

• Statement Sentences with short questions at the end with a question mark!

• A ‘tag-question’ or ‘question tag’ is not

a true

question

A tag question is used at the end of a

Statement Sentence to get the

confirmation from the listener, or just to express one’s doubt

A question sentence, on the contrary, is used to get the answer

 You are my student Statement Sentence positive

 You are not my student Statement negative

 Are you my student? Question (interrogative)

 You are my student, aren’t you? Tag-question

-Tag-question – Positive These are not your books, are they?

- Tag-question Negative

• Making a tag-question sentence:

• She is your friend

,

isn’t she

?

 There are five simple points we

should follow when we use a

Tag-question:

 Point 1

 A comma is used between the main sentence and the ‘tag’ part, e.g

 This is your book isn’t it?

,

►Point 2:

►Even if the subject of the main sentence is a noun – proper noun or common noun – the subject of the ‘tag’ part is always a

corresponding PERSONAL PRONOUN e.g

Mary isn’t your sister, is she?

Point 2 (continued)

John has gone home, hasn’t ?

‘John’ – proper noun – male – singular

he

pronoun – male – singular – subjective case

 Point 2 (continued)

 Ted and Jerry got their books, didn’t ?

‘Ted and Jerry’ – Proper nouns – male – plural

they

Personal Pronoun – male plural

in the main sentence:

Tense, the verb in the ‘tag’ part will be in

Present Tense; and the verb in the main

sentence is in Past Tense, the verb in the ‘tag’ part will be in Past, and so on.

form, the verb in the ‘tag’ part will be in

Negative form.

• She isShe is your sister, she?

isn’t

 Point 3 (continued)

 Brad hasn’t done his work, he?

‘hasn’t’ – Present perfect – NEGATIVE has

Present perfect POSITIVE

 Point 3 (continued)

 Kate goes to school, she?

‘goes’ – Simple present – POSITIVE

‘does not go’ – Simple present – NEGATIVE

doesn’t

Point 4

The negative form of the verb in the ‘tag’ part is always contracted:

does not = doesn’t; has not = hasn’t; will not = won’t

 Point 3 (continued)

 James did not go to school, he?

‘did not go’ – Simple past – NEGATIVE

‘go’ – Simple past – Positive; however, in

‘tag’ part, the auxiliary (helping) verb

alone is used:

did

• Point 5 Word order

• In the statement sentence (in the main

sentence) the subject comes first and the verb comes next; but in the ‘tag’ part, the verb comes first and the subject comes

next, just as in the interrogative sentence

 Point 5 – word order (continued) For example:

A woman fainted, didn’t she?

Main sentence

‘tag’ part

Subject first; verb next

Verb first; subject next

(points) we have discussed so far To understand those rules (points), first we have to master these points.

then we can go for those exceptions later!