TAG QUESTIONS WITH THE VERB “TO BE”

These type of tag questions always use the verb “to be”
for the actual question, given that it is used in the main
sentence. For example when we use an adjective to describe
an object or a person, when we use the present or past
continuous (tenses that always require the use of the verb
“to be”), or when we talk about a state of mind or physical
state, like being sick or sad.
“Isn’t it?” – “Aren’t you” – “Wasn’t it” – “Was it” –
“Weren’t you? – “Were they?”
“It’s my mother, isn’t it?” – Positive sentence: Negative
questions tag
“You are not 18, are you?” – Negative sentence: Positive
question tag. Full form of the question tag.
“You are not 18, you’re?” – You don’t contract a positive
question tag
“You are tall, aren’t you?” – For a negative question tag you
use the contraction ALWAYS
I am not tall, am I?
I am tall, aren’t I? – This exception only happens if you need
to make a negative question tag for the verb “to be” of “I” –
“amn’t” a negative contraction of “am” doesn’t exist, so we
use the negative contraction of “are”.
I am tall, am I not? – You can use this if you don’t want to
use the contraction for “are”, but this is less usual.
I am tall, I am not? – If you want to use the full form,
remember that the verb “to be” goes before the pronoun
and then, after the pronoun, the negative word “not”.
TAG QUESTIONS IN SIMPLE PAST AND SIMPLE PRESENT
The tag questions in simple past and in simple present work
in the same way but instead of using the verb “to be” in the
tag questions you use the auxiliary verb for each tense
(“did” in the simple past and “do/does” in the simple
present) and you use them for every pronoun.
SIMPLE PAST
“I did my homework, didn’t I?” - Positive sentence, negative
tag question.
“He didn’t go to the party, did he?” – Negative sentence,
positive tag question.
SIMPLE PRESENT
“You like pizza, don’t you?” – Positive sentence, negative tag
question.
“Maria doesn’t want to see him, does she?” – Negative
sentence, positive tag question.
Notice how the aux verb changes according to the pronoun,
and that you always need to use the pronoun in a tag
question, not the name of a person or object.
TAG QUESTIONS IN PRESENT PERFECT, PRESENT PERFECT
PROGRESSIVE, PAST PERFECT AND PAST PERFECT
PROGRESSIVE.
Like in simple past and simple present, these tenses all make
use of an auxiliary verb. In the case of PRESENT PERFECT
and PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE that auxiliary verb is
the verb “have/has”. In the case of PAST PERFECT and PAST
PERFECT PROGRESSIVE that auxiliary verb is the verb “had”
(“have” in the past, because it’s PAST perfect). So just as
well, you use the auxiliary verb in the tag question, which is
the same for every pronoun in past perfect, but it changes
for third person in PRESENT PERFECT and PRESENT PERFECT
PROGRESSIVE.
“She has gone to Italy, hasn’t she?” – Positive sentence,
negative tag question. Present perfect third person.
“They haven’t been coming to class, have they?” – Negative
sentence, positive tag question.
“You have seen my brother, haven’t you?” – Positive
sentence, negative tag question. Present perfect NOT third
person.
“We hadn’t spoken before, had we?” – Negative sentence,
positive tag question. Past perfect.
TAG QUESTIONS WITH FUTURE WITH “WILL”
These tag questions work the same way as the tag questions
for simple past and simple present, using the auxiliary verb
for the tag questions along with the pronoun for the tag
questions.
“I will go to the moon, won’t I?” – Positive sentence,
negative tag question.
“We won’t walk to the concert, will we?” – Negative
sentence, positive tag question.
TAG QUESTIONS WITH MODAL VERBS
These tag questions use the modal verb in a sentence for
the tag questions along with the pronoun, given that it
modifies the entire sentence. The negative/positive rule still
continues to work here.
“He wouldn’t talk to me like that, would he?” – Negative
sentence, positive tag question.
“They could go by bus, couldn’t they?” – Positive sentence,
negative tag question.