Question tags are short questions that you can ask at the end of a sentence. They are very common in spoken English. While there are many different question tags, they are not too difficult to learn.[1]https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/question-tags
Positive/Negative
If the sentence is a positive sentence, you must make the question tag negative.
For example:
- She is a doctor, isn’t she?
- You are a teacher, aren’t you?
- We are close to the beach, aren’t we?
Negative/Positive
If the sentence is a negative sentence, you must make the question tag positive.
For example:
- You have not been there before, have you?
- They are not coming, are they?
- Susie does not speak English, does she?
Additional Question Tag Rules
As you can see, the main rules with question tags is that if the main phrase is positive it should be negative and if the main phrase is negative it should be positive.
However, there are a few additional points that you need to be aware of.
Regular Verbs
With most verbs, the question tag uses the appropriate form of the verb “do”.
For example:
- She said that, didn’t she?
- You like to swim, don’t you?
- Frank loves ice cream, doesn’t he?
Auxiliary Verbs
With auxiliary verbs such as “have” and “be”, the question tag verb is the same as the auxiliary verb.
For example:
- We have a few minutes before class starts, haven’t we?
- You are a nice person, aren’t you?
- They aren’t here right now, are they?
Be careful with sentences that begin with “I am”. The correct question tag is “aren’t I”.
For example:
- I am very smart, aren’t I?
Modal Verbs
If the sentence uses a modal verb, the question tag uses the same verb.[2]https://study.com/academy/lesson/modal-adverbs-definition-interpretation-examples.html
For example:
- They can help us, can’t they?
- They couldn’t make it, could they?
- You mustn’t do that, must you?
Intonations
A question tag can either be a real question or something that we already know the answer to.
If the question is genuine, then we need to speak with a rising intonation.
If we already know the answer to the question, then we need to speak with a falling intonation.
Example Exercises
Fill in the appropriate question tag.
References