Tag Questions - Colégio Nilo Cairo

Tag Questions

Tag Questions orQuestion Tags?You speak English, don't you?A tag question is a specialconstruction in English. It is astatement followed by a miniquestion. The whole sentence isa "tag question", and the miniquestion at the end is called a"question tag".

We use tag questions at the end ofstatements to ask for confirmation.They mean something like: "Am Iright?" or "Do you agree?" They arevery common in English.

The basic structure is:StatementQuestion tag Positive statement,negative tag?Snow is white,isn't it?Negative statement,You don't like me, positive tag?do you?

Notice that the questiontag repeats the auxiliaryverb (or main verb whenbe) from the statementand changes it tonegative or positive.

Positive StatementTag QuestionsLook at these exampleswith positive statements. You willsee that most of the time, theauxiliary verb from the positivestatement is repeated in the tagand changed to negative.

positive statement [ ]negative tag [-]subjectauxiliarymain verbauxiliarynotpersonalpronoun(same ou?You (do) like.*won't will English,aren'tyou?Johnwastherewasn'the?notes:no auxiliary formain verb bepresent & past

*Note that in this example theauxiliary verb do in the statement "You like coffee," - is understoodand not expressed because thetense is normal present simple. Butthequestiontagusesthe do auxiliary to make "don't you?"It is also possible to say: "You do likecoffee, don't you?"

negative statement [-]subjectauxiliarypositive tag [ ouauxiliarypersonalpronoun(same s,willthey?doit right,canI?n'ttellher,mustwe?shouldn'tdriveso ,areyou?Johnwasnotthere,washe?

Notice that in the tag, werepeat the auxiliary verb,not the main verb. Except,of course, for the verb tobe in present simple andpast simple.

Answering Tag QuestionsHow do we answer a tag question?Often, we just say Yes or No.Sometimes we may repeat the tag andreverse it (They don't live here, dothey? Yes, they do). Be very carefulabout answering tag questions. Insome languages, an opposite systemof answering is used, and non-nativeEnglish speakers sometimes answer inthe wrong way. This can lead to a lot ofconfusion!

Answer a tag questionaccording to the truth of thesituation. Your answer reflectsthe real facts, not (necessarily)the question.For example, everyoneknows that snow is white.Look at these questions,

tagquestioncorrectanswerSnow iswhite,isn't it?Yes (it is).Snow isn'twhite, is Yes it is!it?Snow isblack,isn't it?No itisn't!Snow isn'tblack, isit?No (itisn't).the answer is thesame in both cases because snow ISWHITE!the answer is thesame in both cases because snow ISNOT BLACK!but notice thechangeof stress when theanswerer does notagree with thequestioner

In some languages, people answera question like "Snow isn't black, isit?" with "Yes" (meaning "Yes, Iagree with you"). This is the wronganswer in English!Here are some more examples,with correct answers:

The moon goes round the earth, doesn'tit? Yes, it does.The earth is bigger than the moon, isn'tit? Yes.The earth is bigger than the sun, isn'tit? No, it isn't!Asian people don't like rice, dothey? Yes, they do!Elephants live in Europe, don'tthey? No, they don't!Men don't have babies, do they? No.The English alphabet doesn't have 40letters, does it? No, it doesn't.

Special CasesNegative AdverbsThe adverbs never, rarely, seldom, hardly,barely and scarcely have a negative sense. Even thoughthey may be in a positive statement, the feeling of thestatement is negative. We treat statements with thesewords like negative statements, so the question tag isnormally positive. Look at these examples:

Positive statement treatedas negativeNegative statement Positive tagHe never came again, did he?She can rarely come these days, can he?You hardly ever came late, did you?I barely know you, do I?You would scarcely expect her toknow that, would you?

IntonationWe can change the meaning of a tag questionwith the musical pitch of our voice. With risingintonation, it sounds like a real question. But if ourintonation falls, it sounds more like a statementthat doesn't require a real answer:intonationYou don't knowwhere my wallet is,do you?/ risingreal questionIt's a beautiful view,isn't it?\ fallingnot a real question

Question Tags? You speak English, don't you? 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".