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Mastering Question Tags: A Guide

Question tags are short questions attached to statements to confirm or get agreement from the listener. They follow the verb-subject order of the statement and take the same verb and subject, inverting it if the statement is positive or negative. For example, a positive statement like "She will complete the assignment" would get the question tag "won't she?" A negative statement like "He hadn't returned the book" would get the question tag "had he?". The tags use auxiliary verbs like do, does, don't and didn't depending on if the statement is present or past tense.

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Diksha Kachare
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166 views9 pages

Mastering Question Tags: A Guide

Question tags are short questions attached to statements to confirm or get agreement from the listener. They follow the verb-subject order of the statement and take the same verb and subject, inverting it if the statement is positive or negative. For example, a positive statement like "She will complete the assignment" would get the question tag "won't she?" A negative statement like "He hadn't returned the book" would get the question tag "had he?". The tags use auxiliary verbs like do, does, don't and didn't depending on if the statement is present or past tense.

Uploaded by

Diksha Kachare
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Unit 2

Question Tags

What are question tags?


Question Tags

• Attach to a positive or a negative statement, NOT a question.

• The tag follows the V S order.

• Used to confirm / get the listener to agree with a statement.

• Works similar - ‘ना’ in Hindi.

• Question tag - takes the verb and the subject from the
statement.
How to Write Question Tags

• Take the subject + only the first verb (in the same tense) and
invert it.

• Invert - if the original statement is positive, the QT must be


negative and vice versa.

• Eg - She will complete the assignment.

Subject - she

Verb - Will complete

Inversion - the QT must be negative

• She will complete the assignment, won’t she (will she not)?
How to Write Question Tags

• Eg - He hadn’t returned the book.

Subject - He

Verb - hadn’t returned

Inversion - QT must be positive.

Ans - He hadn’t returned the book, had he?

• They were making the list.

• Ans - They were making the list, were they not (weren’t they)?
How to Write Question Tags

• If the sentence is in present tense (apart from the verb IS, AM,
ARE) -

• The verb will either be do/ does or don’t/ doesn’t - no other


possibility.

• Eg - The dog eats food.

Subject - the dog (use suitable pronoun- he/she/it)

Verb - Eats (assume the verb ‘do’ before - Does eat)

Invert - QT must be negative.

Ans - The dog eats the food, does he not (doesn’t he)?
How to Write Question Tags

• The girl sends letters to her father.

• The children go to school.

• You don’t like milk (for -ve, assume the verb - ‘do not like’).

• We go to the market.

• My grandmother and I love playing cards.

• He doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation.

• She isn’t available today.

• They don’t know me.


How to Write Question Tags

• If the sentence is in past tense (apart from the verbs WAS,


WERE) -

• The verb will either be did/ didn’t - no other possibility.

• Eg - The dog ate the food.

Subject - the dog (use suitable pronoun- he/she/it)

Verb - Eats (assume the verb ‘did’ before - Did eat)

Invert - QT must be negative.

Ans - The dog ate the food, did he not (didn’t he)?
How to Write Question Tags

• She never went there.

• He threw the bag in the river.

• I wrote a letter.

• They hung the frame on the wall.

• They didn’t pay for the tickets.


Examples

• He is late this morning, _____________?

• The hotel was quite good, __________ ?

• He cooks well, _____________ ?

• You can’t tell the difference, ____________ ?

• They always sleep after lunch, __________ ?

• You’re coming with us, _________ ?

• You didn’t have any lectures today, _______ ?

• You shouldn’t throw things around, _________ ?

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