Tag questions

or
Question tags

Statement sentences with short questions at the

end with question mark

Tag-Questions
A tag-question or question tag is
not a true
question.

A tag question is used at the end

of a Statement Sentence to get the
confirmation from the listener, or just
to express ones doubt.

A question sentence, on the

contrary, is used to get the answer.

Tag-Questions
You are my student. Statement
Sentence positive
You are not my student. Statement
negative
Are you my student? Question
(interrogative)
You are my student, arent you? Tagquestion

Tag-Questions
Whose books are these? a true
question
These are your books, arent they?
-Tag-question Positive
These are not your books, are they?
- Tag-question -- Negative

 Making a tag-question sentence:

She is your friend

,
isnt she

?
A positive tag-question sentence!

Tag-Questions
There are five simple points we
should follow when we use a Tagquestion:
Point 1
A comma is used between the main
sentence and the tag part, e.g.
This is your book isnt it?

Tag- questions
Point 2:
Even if the subject of the main
sentence is a noun proper noun or
common noun the
subject of the tag part is always a
corresponding PERSONAL PRONOUN.
e.g.

Mary isnt your sister, is she?

 Point 2 (continued)
John has gone home, hasnt

John proper noun male singular

he
pronoun male singular subjective case

 Point 2 (continued)
Ted and Jerry got their books, didnt
?
Ted and Jerry Proper nouns male
plural

they
Personal Pronoun male -- plural

Point 3
The verb in the tag part depends on the
verb in the main sentence:
If the verb in the main sentence is in
Present Tense, the verb in the tag part will
be in Present Tense; and the verb in the
main sentence is in Past Tense, the verb in
the tag part will be in Past, and so on.
If the verb in the main sentence is in
Positive form, the verb in the tag part will
be in Negative form.

 Point 3 (continued)
She is your sister,
she?
is main verb Simple Present
Tense POSITIVE
isnt
Simple present tense NEGATIVE

 Point 3 (continued)
Brad hasnt done his work,
he?
hasnt Present perfect NEGATIVE
has
Present perfect -- POSITIVE

 Point 3 (continued)
Kate goes to school,
she?
goes Simple present POSITIVE
does not go Simple present NEGATIVE
doesnt
Point 4
The negative form of the verb in the tag part is
always contracted:
does not = doesnt; has not = hasnt; will not = wont

 Point 3 (continued)
James did not go to school,
he?
did not go Simple past NEGATIVE
go Simple past Positive;
however, in tag part, the auxiliary
(helping) verb alone is used:
did

 Point 5 -- Word order

In the statement sentence (in the
main sentence) the subject comes
first and the verb comes next; but in
the tag part, the verb comes first
and the subject comes next, just as
in the interrogative sentence.

 Point 5 word order (continued)

For example:
A woman fainted, didnt she?
Main sentence
tag part
Subject first; verb next
Verb first; subject next