This week on our English blog, we’re going to talk about an English grammar structure called tag questions. For some reason, they’re not discussed very often in most grammar books, but they’re really common in speaking (So they should be in more grammar books, shouldn’t they?).
You probably haven’t heard the term tag question, have you? No? That’s OK because you’ve mostly likely heard or seen them and even used them before.
Let’s take a look!
But before we get started, it would help to know what tag* means. Tag actually has a lot of different (but related) meanings. The meaning we need to help us understand what tag questions are is this: something small that contains extra information which is added or attached to something larger. One place you commonly see tags is inside your clothing. They’re the little labels** that tell you the size, what the clothes are made of, and how to wash them.
OK, so how, exactly, does that relate to grammar?
Well, tag questions are very short questions that are attached to a sentence, and they add extra information to that sentence. That’s it!
Are you wondering when we’re going to look at some examples? You’ve already seen two of them. Did you notice the underlined questions in the first two paragraphs? Yup, those are both tag questions!
So, let’s get started on learning how to make tag questions. The good news is that all tag questions follow an overall formula, kind of like math. Good news? Yes! Because it’s a VERY easy formula, and you don’t have to be good at math to make tag questions. Honest.
Here’s the formula:
If the verb in the sentence is positive (+), the verb in tag is negative (-).
If the verb in the sentence is negative (-), the verb in the tag is positive (+).
It’s easy, isn’t it? It is, but there are some other things we have to keep in mind when we use tag questions. Let’s look at those now.
Pronouns: All tag questions have pronouns in them, and there are two things to know.
1. If the subject of the sentence is a pronoun, use the same pronoun in the tag question.
She always works in the morning, doesn’t she?
You finished your project last night, didn’t you?
It wasn’t difficult to find my apartment, was it?
He was planning to travel to Thailand, wasn’t he?
2. If the subject of the sentence is a noun, replace it with a pronoun in the tag question.
Your neighbors are from Italy, aren’t they?
Kathryn and Alex are leaving tomorrow at 9, aren’t they?
Armando has studied French, hasn’t he?
Rosa can’t make it to the meeting, can she?
Verbs: The verb tense in a tag question is always the same as the verb tense in the sentence, so we need to pay attention to time/tense. However, we also need to think about whether it’s a simple verb tense (present or past), or if the verb tense includes a helping/auxiliary verb or a modal***. Let’s look again at some of the previous examples.
1. Simple present and simple past can be made with ‘to be’ or with other verbs.
a. When the verb is ‘to be’, use the same form of ‘to be’ in the tag question:
Your neighbors are from Italy, aren’t they?
It wasn’t difficult to find my apartment, was it?
b. When the verb is NOT ‘to be’, use ‘do/does’ (present) or ‘did’ (past) in the tag question.
She always works in the morning, doesn’t she?
You finished your project last night, didn’t you?
2. If the verb tense includes a helping/auxiliary verb, use that helping/auxiliary verb or modal in the tag question.
Kathryn and Alex are leaving tomorrow at 9, aren’t they?
He was planning to travel to Thailand, wasn’t he?
Armando has studied French, hasn’t he?
Rosa can’t make it to the meeting, can she?
It’s important to notice that when the tag question is negative, the verb and ‘not’ are ALWAYS contracted. For example, this is incorrect: She was in class yesterday, was she not? The correct form is: She was in class yesterday, wasn’t she?
Special Cases: Even though tag questions follow a formula and some clear rules, there are times when they are a little different than what we might expect.
1. With these words: no one, someone, anyone and nobody, somebody, anybody, we use ‘they’ in the tag question.
Everyone was having a good time at the party, weren’t they?
Somebody is knocking at the door, aren’t they?
2. Remember we said that if the VERB in the sentence is negative, the tag question is positive? The tag question is also positive if the SUBJECT of the sentence is negative.
Nobody has found my keys, have they? (notice we use ‘they’ because of ‘-body’)
Nothing is bothering you, is it?
3. When a sentence starts with ‘there is/was’ or ‘there are/were’, we also use ‘there’ in the tag questions because ‘there’ is being used as a pronoun.
There are 20 students registered for the class, aren’t there?
There was a problem with the order for office supplies, wasn’t there?
4.a. When a sentence starts with ‘this’ or ‘that’, the pronoun we use in the tag question is ‘it’.
This has been a really great vacation, hasn’t it?
That is the way to the bus station, isn’t it?
4.b. When a sentence starts with ‘these’ or ‘those’, we use ‘they’ in the tag question.
These tag questions are interesting, aren’t they?
Those people at the table next to us at the restaurant were really rude, weren’t they?
Whew! Now that we’ve looked at HOW to make tag questions, let’s talk about WHY we use them because that would be good to know, wouldn’t it? There are two reasons why we use tag questions. We’ll use some new examples here.
The first reason speakers use tag questions is to ask for clarification. We want to know if our idea about the information in the sentence is correct, or if we have a clear idea. In other words, we are asking to be sure of something. Is what I said in the sentence true?
Sally is your cousin, isn’t she?
In this example, I want to confirm that Sally is your cousin. I’m pretty sure, but not 100% sure, about my idea.
Tom and Elaine won’t be able to come to the party, will they?
Here, I think that Tom and Elaine probably won’t be able to come to the party, but I want to clarify to be sure.
Something important to know (both for your listening and when you use tag questions yourself) is that when speakers use tag questions for clarification, they always use rising intonation**** on the tag question.
The second reason speakers use tag questions is to get agreement from the listener. In this case, we think our listener has the same opinion, and we want to confirm that. I have a point a view, and I’m pretty sure you have the same point of view.
But wait – these are questions, aren’t they? Why do we use tag questions when we want someone to agree with us? Yes, these are questions, but when speakers use tag questions to get agreement from listeners, they use falling intonation****. That means these tag questions don’t sound like yes/no questions, and they don’t sound like the tag questions used to clarify. In fact, these types of tag questions sound like statements of fact, and they are often used to start conversations, especially as a way to chat with a stranger or someone we don’t know very well.
It was raining hard this morning, wasn’t it?
This means that I think the rain was really heavy this morning, I think my listener(s) will agree, and now we can talk about the rain and the weather in general. This could be said to someone I know or to a stranger.
Paulo seems upset today, doesn’t he?
In this example, my feeling is that Paulo looks upset, and it’s likely my listener(s) feel the same way. And maybe I’d like to discuss why, or if there’s anything we can do to help Paulo. This would be said to a friend or someone that I know well.
Now that you’ve learned all about tag questions, you’ll use them, won’t you? And if you have any questions, please post them in the comment section below!
*https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/tag
**https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/label