Question Tags | Dipak Rai

Question Tag (Basic to Advanced Level)

A tag question is a short question that comes after a statement. We often use question tags when we expect the listener to agree with our statement. It is a kind of short question that we use at the end of sentence or statement–particularly in spoken English. We use question tags to make confirmation. If the speaker is sure that the statement is true, he/she uses falling intonation, and if the speaker is less sure about what he/she said, rising intonation is used. For instances:

Alex is reading a book, isn't he?
You will visit new place next year, won't you?
I shall meet you soon, shan't I?

Thus, if a statement has an auxiliary verb, it gets repeated in the Question Tag. But if the statement or sentence doesn't have an auxiliary verb, we have to use the question tags in the following ways:

I go to school, don't I?
They worked hard, didn't they?
She writes a poem, doesn't she?

With everybody, everyone, someone, somebody, nobody, none, etc. use plural auxiliary verb and they in the tag. But with something, anything and nothing, use singular verb forms and it in the tag.

Everyone is present, aren’t they?
Someone has stolen my bike, haven't they?
Somebody called me, didn’t they? Something is wrong, isn’t it?

If two subjects and two verbs are used in the statement, use tag with respect to the second pair.

I don’t think she will come here, won’t she?
I suppose that they aren’t coming, are they?

Use of auxiliary verbs, such as dare and need as a main verb or an action verb.

You need to cut your hair, don’t you?
She dared to talk with me, didn’t she?

When double subjects are connected with “and” connective, we have to use,

Hari and I go to school, aren’t we?
You and Sumitra go to school, don’t you?

Use of ‘Had better’ and ‘would better.’

You'd better do it now, hadn’t you?
She'd rather go there, wouldn’t she?

There as a subject is always repeated in the tag.

There is a car, isn’t there?
There was somebody, wasn’t there?

Do not get confused with “S+present participle (V4) and ‘S+past participle (V3).

Hari’s coming now, isn’t he?
Alex’s visited Pokhara, hasn’t he?

If “Have” denotes causative verb in the statement, use “do” except in future tense in the question tag.

I always have him bring the newspaper, don’t I?
We had them bring the radio, didn’t we?
She will have me take SEE pretest, won’t she?

‘It’ is used for this or that and ‘They’ is used for these or that in the tag.

This/That is my house, isn’t it?
These/Those are our school, aren’t they?

“One” gets repeated in the tag question.

One can help me, can’t one?

Some Exceptional Cases in Question Tag

If ‘have’ is used as an action verb, i.e. have means take, swim, eat, drink, etc., use do verb’ forms in the tag.

She has tea, doesn’t she? (drinks tea)
He had a test, didn’t he? (took a test)
I have food, don’t I? (eat)

But if ‘have’ means possession or ownership.

I have some books, don’t I or haven’t I?

Use of ‘have to’, ‘has to’, ‘had to’ and ‘used to’ in the tag…

You have to work hard, don’t you?
She has to take a test, doesn’t she?
They had to follow the school’s rules, didn’t they?
There used to be garden, didn’t there?
He did not use to drink, did he?
But, I’m used to playing video games, aren’t I?

Negative Markers, such as none, no one, nobody, neither, never and no, etc. always make the statement negative. So, after them, use positive tag(s).

Nobody is here, are they?
Neither she nor he were absent, were they?
None of them went there, did they?
I have no books, do I?

With the subject ‘all’, we can use the pronoun ‘it’ or ‘they’ depending on the situation.

All is well, isn’t it? (Here, all is singular and its pronoun is ‘it’)
All are well, aren’t they? (Here, all is plural and its pronoun is ‘they’)

Some adverbs (e.g. hardly, little, never, only, scarcely and seldom) have a negative meaning. Negative clauses with any, anybody, anyone, anything, anywhere Words such as never, nobody, no one, none, nothing, nowhere, etc. already have a negative meaning, so we don’t need another negative with the verb.

Neither, neither … nor and not … either, So am I, so do I, Neither do I Never or not … ever?, No one, nobody, nothing, nowhere, No, none and none of, Not any and no, Little, a little, few, a few Hardly, Hardly ever, rarely, scarcely, seldom, Scarcely

Use of Imperatives in Tag Question(s)

Use ‘will you’ in all imperative sentences (Negative or Affirmative) except in the statement that starts with ‘Let’s……’