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Examples:
That question is easy. ----->
That question is easy, isn't it?
He's working hard. ----->
He's working hard, isn't he?
There's a test tomorrow. ----->
There's a test tomorrow, isn't there?
He was angry. ----->
He was angry, wasn't he?
He was watching TV. ----->
He was watching TV, wasn't he?
There were many problems.
----->
There were many problems,
weren't there?
This seems easy. ----->
This seems easy, doesn't it?
She worked yesterday. ----->
She worked yesterday, didn't she?
He left early. ----->
He left early, didn't he?
They've already finished.
----->
They've already finished,
haven't they?
She's visited Paris. ----->
She's visited Paris, hasn't she?
He's been there a long time.----->
He's been there a long time, hasn't he?
They'd left when you arrived.
----->
They'd left when you
arrived, hadn't
they?
She can play violin very well.
--->
She can play violin very
well, can't she?
We should leave early. ----->
We should leave early, shouldn't we?
We'd better hurry. ----->
We'd better hurry, hadn't we?
________________________________________
Special
Notes:
| 1. |
|
Tag questions are also called "answer-presuming
questions"
or "confirmation
questions" because we
ask them when
we think (presume)
that we know
the
answer. (We want someone
else to tell us if
we are right or wrong--to confirm whether
the
answer that we think is correct
is really correct.) |
| |
|
|
| 2. |
|
Notice that the tags have BE
or an auxiliary verb.
If the statement doesn't have BE (is, am, are, was,
were) or an auxiliary
verb (have, has, had, can,
may, will, etc.), use do,
does, or did. |
| |
|
|
| 3. |
|
Notice that tags for affirmative
( + ) statements
are negative. |
| |
|
|
| 4. |
|
When the verb in the statement
is am, the
tag is
aren't
I:
I'm here, aren't I? / I'm
correct, aren't I?
(Aren't
is used because there is no commonly
accepted
contraction for am not.)
|
| |
|
|
| 5. |
|
The answers for tag questions
can be yes, no,
or
I
don't know:
Q: Jaime's from México, isn't he?
A: Yes,
he is. He's from San Luis Potosí.
A: No, he isn't from México. He's from El
Salvador.
A: I
don't know.
Important:
You can think that you know the answer but
be wrong.)
|
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|
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| 6. |
|
When the subject of the statement
is this or that,
the pronoun in
the tag ending is it:
This is easy, isn't it?
That's your book, isn't it?
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