Question tags - advanced

QUESTION TAGS

If you want to go on, always click on the arrow here on the right :

MORE DIFFICULT CASES

WATCH A VIDEO

Dan from BBC is going to revise more difficult cases of question tags.

click HERE to watch DAN

He was awesome, wasn't he? :)

Let's revise step by step what he explained, shall we?

MEANING

We use question tags to confirm or check information or ask for agreement.

You can swim, can’t you? You don’t know where the boss is, do you? This meal is horrible, isn’t it?

MEANING

or - we use tag questions to check whether something is true:

The meeting’s tomorrow at 9am, isn’t it? You won’t go without me, will you?

some useful rules:

We use the same auxiliary verb in the tag as in the main sentence. If there is no auxiliary verb in the main sentence, the verb is in present or past simple and we use do/does /did in the tag:

1.

You live in Spain, don’t you?

If the auxiliary verb in the sentence is affirmative, the tag is negative.

2.

You’re Spanish, aren’t you?

3.

If the auxiliary verb in the sentence is negative, the tag is affirmative.

You’re not Spanish, are you?

4.

In the present form of BE: In an affirmative statement, if the subject is “I”, the auxiliary changes to aren’t in the tag:

I’m sitting next to you, aren’t I? I’m a little red, aren’t I?

5.

With let’s ...., the tag is shall we?

Let’s go to the beach, shall we? Let’s have a coffee, shall we?

With an imperative, the tag is will you?

6.

Close the window, will you? don't talk, will you?

you can also use won't you? with a slight suggestion that you might be expecting the answer to be NO.

You can use …would you? and …could you? in addition to …will you? and …won't you? with positive imperative. However, note that with the imperative we cannot use …wouldn't you? or …couldn't you?.

7.

We use an affirmative tag after a sentence containing a negative word such as never, hardly, nobody.

Nobody lives in this house, do they? You’ve never liked me, have you?

When the subject is nothing, we use “it” in the tag.

8.

Nothing bad happened, did it? Nothing ever happens, does it?

If the subject is nobody, somebody, everybody, no one, someone or everyone, we use “they” in the tag:

Nobody asked for me, did they? Nobody lives here, do they??

9.

With used to, we use “didn’t” in the tag.

You used to work here, didn’t you? He used to have long hair, didn’t he?

PRONUNCIATION

WATCH A VIDEO

Lucy is going to explain to you the intonation of question tags. (it's enough to watch 0.30 - 3.40)

click HERE to watch LUCY

1.

If we don’t know the answer, it is a real question and we use a rising intonation with the tag.

You don’t know where the boss is, do you? ↗

2.

If we know the answer and are just confirming the information a falling intonation is used with the tag.

That film was fantastic, wasn’t it? ↘

PRACTICE

First, watch a video how question tags are used in real situtations. (Start 0.45)

click HERE to watch

PRACTICE

Now, it's time for you to practise, isn't it?

click HERE to get to QUIZLET set

If you are a big fan of TBBT, get back after practising and watch the question tags used there.

PRACTICE

Let's try something more challenging, shall we?

click HERE to get to the GAME

Click on the first PLAY and choose SLOW version:

Question tags used in

click HERE to watch

That's it! It's clear now, isn't it?

Now, it's your turn to make dialogs, using as many question tags as you can!