Tag Questions

1. TAG QUESTIONS

2. A tag question is a special construction in English.
It is a statement followed by a mini-question.
The whole sentence is a "tag question", and the mini-
question at the end is called a "question tag".

3. It is used to guide the answer
……in the direction that the person who made the question wants
statement question tag
+
Positive statement,
-
negative tag?
Rain is boring, isn't it?
-
Negative statement,
+
positive tag?
You don't like me, do you?
The basic structure is:

4. statement question tag
+
Positive statement,
-
negative tag?
They’ve gone away for a
few days,
haven’t they?
-
Negative statement,
+
positive tag?
He had met him before, hadn’t he?
With auxiliary verbs
The question tag uses the same verb as the main part of
the sentence. If this is an auxiliary verb (‘have’, ‘be’) then
the question tag is made with the auxiliary verb.

5. Without auxiliary verbs
If the main part of the sentence doesn’t have an auxiliary
verb, the question tag uses an appropriate form of ‘do’.
statement question tag
+
Positive statement,
-
negative tag?
I said that, didn’t I?
-
Negative statement,
+
positive tag?
You don’t recognise me, do you?

6. With modal verbs
If there is a modal verb in the main part of the sentence the
question tag uses the same modal verb.
statement question tag
+
Positive statement,
-
negative tag?
They could hear me, couldn’t they?
-
Negative statement,
+
positive tag?
You don’t recognise
me,
do you?

7. With ‘I am’
Pay attention with question tags with sentences that start ‘I
am’. The question tag for ‘I am’ is ‘aren’t I?’
statement question tag
+
Positive statement,
-
negative tag?
I’m the fastest, aren’t I?