If the statement is affirmative, the tag question is negative. If the statement is negative, the tag question is affirmative.
Read the following sentences:
It's a nice party, isn't it?
We're going to stay the whole night, aren't we?
You didn't go there on business, did you?
You are not going away anywhere soon, are you?
You missed me, didn't you?
If we study the above sentences, we notice that each of the sentence ends with a question. These questions are different from the wh-questions or 'yes/no' questions. These are called tag questions.
We also notice that, if the statement is affirmative, the tag question is negative. If the statement is negative, the tag question is affirmative.
So, a tag question is a kind of question asked by the speaker after a negative or an affirmative statement during conversation. They are normally used in speech when we want to:
• confirm that something is true or not, or
• to encourage a reply from the person we are speaking to.
Intonation and meaning:
When a tag question is spoken, the voice can go up or down.
It is a nice party, isn't it?
A falling intonation means the speaker is sure (or almost sure) that the statement is true. He/she only wants to confirm. The tag is not really a question.
A rising intonation means that even though the speaker expects to hear 'yes', the speaker is less sure and wants to know.
You didn't go there on business, did you?
Why do we use tag questions?
We can use tag questions to verify or check information that we think is true, or to check information that we aren't sure about.
The interesting things about tag questions are that they have varied uses. The tag question is in fact a typical feature of conversation in English.
Different uses of 'tag questions':
Read the following tag questions:
You have known Shumona for a long time, haven't you?
Shumona is Bangladeshi, isn't she?
She lives in Dhaka, doesn't she?
She has lived here all her life, hasn't she?
She went to Delhi for higher studies last year, didn't she?
She speaks good English, doesn't she?
She can help you, can't she?
But she wouldn't, would she?
Note: If the verb used in the statement is an auxiliary verb, then the auxiliary verb is repeated in the tag question. If a modal (can, could, will, should, etc.) is used in the statement, then the same modal is used in the tag part. If the statement doesn't use an auxiliary verb, then the auxiliary 'do/ does/ did is used in the tag question.
He hardly watches movie, does he?
He never came back, did he?
Note: If there are words such as seldom, hardly, barely, scarcely, nothing, none, no one, neither, few, little, never in a sentence, it is considered as a negative sentence. Therefore, notice that tag questions are in affirmation.
Nobody likes to be criticized, do they?
Everybody wanted to talk to the celebrity, didn't they?
Note: If everybody, all, somebody, someone, anybody, any one, no one, none is used as a subject, then the subject of the tag question would be 'they'.
Nothing was easy, was it?
Anything will be all right, will it?
Note: If anything, something, everything, nothing is used as a subject, then 'it' would be used as a pronoun.
Take a seat, won't you?
Help me, will you?
Close the door, would you?
Let us go out for a walk, shall we?
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