Question Tag | English Grammar

Formation of Question Tag

We use question tags at the end of the statement when we want someone to confirm what we already know, when we're looking for the other person's agreement or we want to involve them in conversation. We often use tags to make conversation more friendly.       

Positive Statement+ Negative Tag- You're from Japan, aren't you?

Negative Statement + Positive Tag- There isn't much time left, is there?

If the statements have negative expressions such as not, barely, hardly, never, no, no one, nobody, nothing, nowhere scarcely, do not allow the auxiliaries in the tag questions to be negated.

They hardly know each other, do they?
 Nobody can do it, can they?
Alan never smoked, did he?

Tags with Two Clauses: Main Clause + Subordinate Clause She said (main clause) that she was pregnant (subordinate clause), didn’t she?

If the main clause (the first clause) possesses I / We as a subject and the verb indicates to thinking and feeling, like believe, feel, know, think, etc., the question tag is formed according to the second clause.

I think she will learn English, won’t she? But, she thinks I hate her, doesn’t she?

The above- mentioned rule isn’t applied to saying verbs like say, tell, write, etc., and other verbs.

If the main clause is in negation, the auxiliary in the question tag should be positive.

I and he don’t think she found her purse, did she?

Statements with am, may, used to and ought to do not follow the normal pattern of obligatory repetition in the question tag.

Am- I’m a student, aren’t I?

May – Sarah may be able to help, mightn’t she? (mayn’t is very rare.)

Ought to- We ought to ring her now, shouldn’t we? (Oughtn’t is less frequent.)

Few and Little take a positive tag.

Few friends came, did they?

Imperative sentences take ‘will you’ as a tag. But in the case of Let’s, shall we is used. 

Close the door, will you?

Don’t tell a lie, will you?

Let’s have a party tonight, shall we? (suggestion)

Let us go, will you? (permission)

sub’d + rather – wouldn’t – He’d rather prefer tea, wouldn’t he?

sub’d + better- hadn’t – You’d better go there, hadn’t you?

Singular auxiliary verbs change to plural auxiliary verbs to form tags if somebody, someone, nobody, no one, everybody, everyone, etc. are as the subjects of the statements.

Everyone likes playing, don’t they?

No one respects a bad person, do they?

There and One are repeated in the tags if they are used as the subjects of the statements.

One should be faithful, shouldn’t one?

Examples:

John will go to market tomorrow, won’t he?

The students play football, don’t they?

Mike and Sam had their lunch, didn’t they?

Raphael does not go to temple, does he?

Don't make a noise, will you?

Somebody is coming here, aren’t they?

Nobody helped me, did they?

Everything is fine, isn’t it?

None of them are bad, did they?

You and she did it, didn’t you?

I am too tired, aren’t I?

She'd do it in time, wouldn’t she?

They'd written homework, hadn’t they?

I'd rather go for a walk, wouldn’t I?

You'd better do it, hadn’t you?

There was nothing at all, was there?

This is a book, isn’t it?

Let us play football, will you?

Let's play football, shall we?

All was sold, wasn’t it?

She's running now, isn’t she?

All are well, aren’t they?

You and I'll go there, won’t we?

She's writing some poems all the day yesterday, wasn’t she?

You must keep quiet, mustn’t you?

Students have to study hard, don’t they?

He hardly talks in English, does he?

Linda, along with Tom and Harry, has joined the swimming class, haven't they?

Sarah has never been to Pokhara, has she?