A tag question is a short question we can add to the end of a statement. We use tag questions to confirm the statement.
Rules for Two-Word Tag Questions
a. The subject must be the same in both statement and tag question.
b. The auxiliary verb or main verb in the statement must match the verb in the tag question.
c. If the statement is positive, the tag question is negative, and if the statement is negative, the tag question is positive.
Examples:
| They’ve been to Spain, haven’t they? |
| You won’t be late, will you? |
| You’re ready, aren’t you? |
| You aren’t going to school today, are you? |
If the main statement has an auxiliary verb in it, use the same verb in the question tag.
Normally there is no auxiliary verb used when positive statements have present and past simple tenses. In this case, we use the auxiliaries does, do or did in the tag question. Present or past simple negative statements definitely have the auxiliaries doesn’t, don’t or didn’t.
Examples:
| You go to the gym on Wednesdays, don’t you? |
| Jaime goes with you, doesn’t he? |
| You didn’t go to the gym last Wednesday, did you? |
When “there is” structure is used, “there” is used in the tag question.
Examples:
| There’s nothing to do, is there? |
| There weren’t any books left, were there? |
Something /someone/ nobody /no one/ etc.
When an indefinite pronoun is the subject in the statement, we use “it” in the tag question to mean something or nothing or “they” to mean someone or nobody.
Examples:
| Something fell on the floor, didn’t it? |
| No one came, did they? |
| Somebody asked for you, didn’t they? Who was it? |
When to Use Tag Questions
Tag questions are used to check information that we think we know is true. When rising intonation is used in the tag question, it means we are not very sure of the answer. If falling intonation is used, it means we are almost certain of the answer.
Rising tone
| You haven’t met her, have you? |
| I could use yours, could I? |
Falling tone
| The dress looks great on Marta, doesn’t it? |
| The teacher wasn’t very happy today, was she? |
A simple yes/no is the usual response to a tag question. We can also answer by using yes/no + auxiliary verb.
Exceptions:
Positive statement with positive tag question
It is possible to use a positive statement- positive tag question when we want to express surprise, interest, anger etc., and not to ask real questions.
Examples:
| So you’re getting married, are you? That’s great! |
| So you think that’s funny, do you? Well, we don’t! |
| He’s coming home today, is he? He has been saying that for months! |
Imperative sentences and let’s
We sometimes add “will you?” or “won’t you?” after imperatives when we want people to follow our advice.
Examples:
| Don’t stay up late, will you? |
| Finish it now, will you? |
We sometimes add “shall we?” when making a suggestion.
Examples:
| Let’s go home, shall we? |
| Let’s have fish for dinner, shall we? |
Leave out pronoun subject and auxiliary verb
We sometimes do not include pronoun subjects, auxiliary verbs and verb to be in the statement when used in very informal speech.
Examples:
| Nice party, isn’t it? (It’s a nice party, isn’t it?) |
| Looking good, are you? (You’re looking good, are you?) |