Page 116 - English Grammar in Use

Unit
52 Question tags (do you? isn’t it? etc.)

A Study these examples:
You haven’t seen No, I haven’t. It was a good Yes, it was great.
Lisa today, have you? film, wasn’t it?

Have you? and wasn’t it? are question tags. These are mini-questions that you can put on the end of
a sentence.
In question tags, we use an auxiliary verb (have/was/will etc.).
We use do/does/did for the present and past simple (see Unit 51):
‘Karen plays the piano, doesn’t she?’ ‘Well, yes, but not very well.’
‘You didn’t lock the door, did you?’ ‘No, I forgot.’

B Normally we use a negative question tag after … and a positive question tag after a
a positive sentence: negative sentence:
positive sentence negative tag negative sentence + positive tag
+
Kate will be here soon, won’t she? Kate won’t be late, will she?
There was a lot of traffic, wasn’t there? They don’t like us, do they?

Joe should pass the exam, shouldn’t he? You haven’t eaten yet, have you?
Notice the meaning of yes and no in answer to a negative sentence:
⎧ ‘Yes.’ (= Yes, I am going out)
‘You’re not going out this morning, are you?’ ⎨
⎩ ‘No.’ (= No, I am not going out)

C The meaning of a question tag depends on how you say it. If your voice goes down, you are not
really asking a question. You expect the listener to agree with you:
‘It’s a nice day, isn’t it?’ ‘Yes, beautiful.’
‘Paul doesn’t look well today, does he?’ ‘No, he looks very tired.’
‘Lisa’s very funny. She’s got a great sense of humour, hasn’t she?’ ‘Yes, she has.’
But if the voice goes up, it is a real question:
‘You haven’t seen Kate today, have you?’ ‘No, I haven’t.’
(= Have you seen Kate today?)
You can use a negative sentence + positive tag to ask for things or information, or to ask somebody
to do something. The voice goes up at the end of the tag:
‘You couldn’t do me a favour, could you?’ ‘It depends what it is.’
‘You don’t know where Karen is, do you?’ ‘Sorry, I have no idea.’

D Aft er Let’s … (= Let us) the question tag is shall we:
Let’s go for a walk, shall we? (the voice goes up)
Aft er Don’t … , the question tag is will you:
Don’t be late, will you? (the voice goes down)
Aft er I’m … , the negative question tag is aren’t I? (= am I not?):
‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ ‘Yes, you are.’

104 Auxiliary verbs (have/do/can etc.) ➜ Unit 51