Tag Questions
Short questions for agreement or confirmation
A tag question is a short question added to the end of a statement. It can ask 'Is that right?' or 'Do you agree?' In the opposite-polarity pattern practised here, an affirmative statement takes a negative tag: 'The weather was cold, wasn't it?' A negative statement takes an affirmative tag: 'We didn't feel bored, did we?' Keep the auxiliary or modal that belongs to the statement and replace the subject with its matching pronoun. If a simple present or simple past statement has no visible auxiliary, first make a general question to find do, does, or did: 'We spent time there' becomes 'Did we spend time there?', so its tag is 'didn't we?' The source uses short negative contractions in tags. It also prints two special subject-pronoun matches: 'Nobody went to the party, did they?' and 'Nothing is useful, is it?'
Key terms
| Statement | Tag | Complete example |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmative | Negative | The weather was cold, wasn't it? |
| Negative | Affirmative | We didn't feel bored, did we? |
The statement and tag have opposite polarity.
| Statement verb | Tag verb | Example |
|---|---|---|
| is/are/was/were | matching form of be | They were exhausted, weren't they? |
| can/could/should/will | matching modal | Lala can drive, can't she? |
| simple present without be or another auxiliary/modal | do/does | Leyla works hard, doesn't she? |
| simple past without be or another auxiliary/modal | did | They went hiking, didn't they? |
Ask a general question first if the statement has no visible auxiliary.
| Statement subject | Tag pronoun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Farid | he | Farid was there, wasn't he? |
| The travellers | they | The travellers were tired, weren't they? |
| Nothing | it | Nothing is useful, is it? |
| Nobody | they | Nobody went, did they? |
These examples preserve the subject pronouns printed in the lesson.
- 1Statement: We spent a lot of time in the mountains.
- 2General question: Did we spend a lot of time in the mountains?
- 3Opposite tag: The statement is affirmative, so add 'didn't we?'
- 1Find be: The weather was cold.
- 2Reverse polarity: Affirmative was becomes negative wasn't.
- 3Match the subject: Weather becomes it: 'The weather was cold, wasn't it?'
Do not repeat a noun in the tag: use 'The cake tastes good, doesn't it?'
Check both polarity and pronoun. A tag with the right auxiliary can still be wrong if either one fails.
When there is no form of be or other auxiliary/modal, form a general question to find the tag verb: works becomes Does she work?, giving doesn’t she; went becomes Did they go?, giving didn’t they.
Rules
- 1In this lesson’s opposite-polarity pattern, an affirmative statement takes a negative tag.
- 2In this pattern, a negative statement takes an affirmative tag.
- 3Use the statement's form of be, auxiliary, or modal in the tag.
- 4For simple-present or simple-past verbs such as works or went, with no form of be or other auxiliary/modal, use do, does, or did in the tag.
- 5Use a pronoun that matches the statement's subject.
- 6Use the printed short negative contractions in negative tags: isn't, aren't, wasn't, weren't, don't, doesn't, didn't, can't, and won't.
- 7With the printed special subjects, use they for nobody and it for nothing.
Practice
10 easy · 10 medium · 10 hard
Up to 10 random questions per test