Question tags

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Question tags

• (made by Carmen Luisa)

2
USE
A question tag is a short question at the end of
a statement He won the prize, didnt he?
question tag We use question
tags when we want to check if information is
correct.
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FORM
1. Use question tags at the end of a sentence
He won the prize, didnt he?
question tag
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FORM
2.a. NEGATIVE QUESTION TAG If the sentence is
positive, the question tag is negative You have
seen that film, havent you?
- 2.b. POSITIVE QUESTION TAG If the sentence
is negative, the question tag is positive You
havent seen that film, have you? -
If the sentence contains a negative word
(never, hardly) the question tag is positive
Ann never goes anywhere, does she?
-
5
FORM
3. Questions tags consist of AUXILIARY VERB
PRONOUN I shouldnt laugh, should I? Sarah
was winning, wasnt she? We use the auxiliary
verb that is used in the previous sentence. If
there is no auxiliary verb, se use do/does
(present tense) and did (past tense) You live
near here, dont you? You turned left, didnt
you? The pronoun refers to the subject of the
previous sentence.
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FORM
4. Some verbs form question tags differently I
am ? arent I? Im helpful, arent I? There is ?
isnt there? There is a chemists near here,
isnt there? There are ? arent there? There are
many shops in the area, arent there? This is /
That is ? isnt it? Thats your wife over there,
isnt it?
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FORM
5. When we answer question tags, we often use
short answers A You are French, arent you?
B Yes, I am. / No, Im not. ? SHORT
ANSWERS A Shes got a dog, hasnt she? B Yes,
she has. / No, she hasnt. ? SHORT ANSWERS A
You smoke, dont you? B Yes, I do. / No, I
dont. ? SHORT ANSWERS
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FORM

• 6. Intonation
• When we are sure of the answer, the voice goes
  down in the question tag
• John doesnt like gold, does he?
• The speaker knows John doesnt like gold.
• When we are not sure of the answer, the voice
  goes up
• They left for Milan, didnt they?
• ? The speaker doesnt know if they left for Milan
  or not.

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Question tags
I hope you have understood how to use question
tags.