QUESTION TAG?
Presented by:Soniyabiju
INTRODUCTION
A question tag can be generally described
as a simple statement followed by a short
question. Question tags are most often
used in spoken language to confirm
something that is said and also to
encourage the listener to give an answer.
In written language, the use of question
tags can be seen only in dialogue writing
and in stories which include dialogues.
WHAT IS QUESTION TAG?
Tag questions’ are questions attached to the end of a
statement in order to draw attention to it or to give it
added force. Although they nominally ask the opinion of
the person to whom they are addressed, they don’t do so,
they take his agreement for granted.When a tag is spoken,
the voice can go down and up and the meaning of the tag
depends on the intonation. A falling intonation (1) indicates
that the Speaker is sure that the statement is true. Here
the tag is not really a question.
(2) A rising intonation (↑) indicates that the speaker is less
sure. In this case the tag is more like a real question.
Example: ▪︎ You have completed your studies, (↓), haven’t you?
▪︎ You have got a job, (↑), haven’t you?
RULES FOR USING QUESTION TAGS
Only the short form ‘n’t’ is used in question tag
• a comma is added after the statement;
• The tag begins with a small letter and there is a question mark at the end
of the tag.
In question tag, only the verb and subject are retained. The subject of the
tag is always a subjective form of pronoun, never a noun. Don’t change the
tense. Use the same auxiliary verb as in the independent clause. If there is
no auxiliary, use do, does or did.
Example: ☆ It is very cold today, isn’t it?
☆ She came home late, didn’t she?
☆ We have plenty of time, haven’t we?
POSITIVE STATEMENTS WITH NEGATIVE QUESTION TAGS &
NEGATIVE STATEMENTS WITH POSITIVE QUESTION TAGS
2) An affirmative or positive statement
has a negative tag and a negative
statement has a positive tag.
Example:
•He is coming, isn’t he?
He is not coming, is he?
(3) A suitable pronoun is used in the tag as its subject
according to the number, gender, and person of the subject
of the statement.
Example:
▪︎Kamala is in the house, isn’t she?
▪︎The children are in the bedroom, aren’t they?
▪︎He is very clever, isn’t he?
▪︎That boy isn’t very intelligent, is he?
▪︎One loves one’s own country, doesn’t one?
▪︎One can’t be too careful, can one be?
There were only six people present, weren’t there?
There won’t be anybody, will there be?
4) The ‘be’ forms (are, is, was and were) are repeated in the tag
Example: He was here yesterday, wasn’t he?
B) In the case of ‘be’ form ‘am’ in the positive statement, “aren’t
I” is used in the tag but not “amn’t I.”
Example: I am a doctor, aren’t I?
C)But when am is used in the negative statement, the tag is “am
I” I am not a magician, am I?
5. THE APPROPRIATE FORM OF DO (DO, DOES, DID) IS USED ACCORDING TO THE SUBJECT AND TENSE OF
THE STATEMENT.
Example:
1.She looks ill, doesn’t she?
2.They come here everyday, don’t they?
3.Coffee tastes bitter, doesn’t it?
4. He became a philosopher, didn’t he?
‘Used to’ also uses the past tense ‘did’.
5. She used to be quite a good tennis player,
didn’t she?
6. If the verb of the statement is a compound tense,
then only the auxiliary (or, itself is a compound form,
only the first word of it) is repeated in the tag.
Example:
1. We have finished our work, haven’t we?
2. Your car is being repaired, isn’t it?
3. He can’t understand English, can he?
Although everybody’ and ‘everyone’. ‘somebody’ and ‘someone’; ‘nobody’ and ‘no one’, are singular, for the purposes of
the tag they are usually treated as plural, and referred to by they.
Example:
No one phoned for me, did they?
Everybody can’t come in first, can they?
Everyone cheered wildly, didn’t they?
(b) ‘None of, followed by a plural noun, is also treated as a plural, and takes ‘they’.
Example: None of the workmen arrived to time, did they?
(c) ‘None of us’ has ‘we’ as the subject of the tag.
None of us knew the way, did we?
(D) ‘Some of us’ takes ‘we’ if the speaker includes himself in the number but ‘they’ if he does not.
Example: Some of us wanted to stay longer, didn’t we?
On the return journey some of them lost the way, didn’t they?
(E) ‘Some of you’ takes ‘you’ in the tag.
Example: Some of you are learning Hindi, aren’t you?
(F) We use ‘it’ in question tags after, ‘nothing, everything and something.
Example: Nothing is new, is it?
A NEGATIVE STATEMENT DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN ONE WITH A NEGATIVE VERB. SO LONG AS
THERE IS A NEGATIVE IDEA IN IT, IT IS A NEGATIVE STATEMENT, AND NEEDS A POSITIVE TAG.
Example:
1. None of the food was wasted, was it?
2. We saw no one we knew, did we?
3. Money goes nowhere nowadays, does it?
Semi-negative words like ‘little, few, hardly scarcely, rarely, seldom’ are treated as
negative, and take a positive tag.
Example:
Few people knew the answer, did they?
Little progress has been made, has it?
We could scarcely hear what he said, could we?
We seldom see them nowadays, do we?
Though few and little are negative, ‘a few’ and ‘a little’ are positive,
and therefore need a negative tag.
A few people knew the answer, didn’t they?
A little progress has been made, hasn’t it?
CONCLUSION
Question tags are an essential part of English communication, helping
to confirm information and engage in conversations effectively.
By following the basic rules—
using the correct auxiliary verb and maintaining the right polarity
(positive statement → negative tag, negative statement → positive
tag)—one can use them accurately
. Mastering question tags enhances clarity, encourages interaction, and
makes speech more natural.
