Question Tags
What are Question Tags?
Question Tags are short questions which come after an affirmative or negative sentence. When we are not completely sure about what we’re saying and we
want a confirmation from the other person, we use Question Tags.
When should we use a Question Tag? For example: I think to remember John told me he liked coffee, but I’m not completely sure. So I can say:
John, you like coffee,
don’t you? This
don’t you? is the Question Tag.
You can also use a Question Tag when you want
to share an opinion. With the Question Tag you ask if the other person agrees or not. For example:
the weather is great,
isn’t it?How to make Question Tags?
The Question Tag is always made with the auxiliary verb. There are a lot of auxiliary verbs: do, does, will, are, is, would, should, can, etc (and all their negative variants). Here you have some examples with different auxiliary verbs:
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- You would tell me, wouldn’t you?
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- They aren’t working, are they?
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- She likes the Beatles, doesn’t she?
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- They should be there now, shouldn’t they?
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- You are very motivated, aren’t you?
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| Explanations | Examples |
When the sentence is affirmative, the Question Tag is negative | - you smoke, don’t you?
- they’re teachers, aren’t they?
- he drinks tea, doesn’t he?
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When the sentence is negative,the Question Tag is positive | - you don’t smoke, do you?
- she’s not a teacher, is she?
- school doesn’t start until 6 o’clock, does it?
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