Grammar: tag questions (lesson & exercise)

Lesson:

Tag questions, the quick little two-word way to turn a normal sentence into a question, are one of the easiest topics in English grammar. The name 'tag question' refers to the two words after the comma at the end of these examples:

• Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil, isn't it?
• You didn't see anything, did you?
• John should lose some weight, shouldn't he?

In each case, these truly are questions - the speaker expects the listener to say something. Depending on how the speaker says it, a simple 'uh-huh' from the listener might be enough or a full answer might be necessary.

Making tag questions is very easy - it's all about choosing the right helping verb and the right subject. A 'helping verb', also called an 'auxillary verb', is the verb you can see directly after the comma - the verb that we put before the subject in normal questions and the verb we put 'not' after in negative sentences. They include words like 'is', 'are', 'did', 'do', 'will', 'can', 'must', 'have' and 'had'. In the three examples above, you'll see that the helping verb in the sentence and the helping verb in the tag question are the same, just changed from positive to negative or vice versa. So 'is' in the first example becomes 'isn't' in the tag, and the negative 'didn't' in the second one becomes 'did' in the tag.

Present simple and past simple sentences, if they're positive, won't have helping verbs. In these cases, you need to use 'doesn't', 'don't' or 'didn't'. For example:

• They kill horses, don't they?
• You slept well, didn't you?

The last word of the tag question is just the subject again. You can see in the two examples above that the first word of the example and the last word are the same. In the examples above, we've used pronouns where necessary ('he' for 'John', 'it' for 'Rio de Janeiro'), but the logic is still the same.

So that's really all there is to tag questions: take a normal sentence, put a comma at the end, then put the opposite helping verb (negative if the original sentence is positive and positive if the original is negative) plus the subject again (using a pronoun if necessary), a question mark, and you're done!

Let's look at a few more examples, this time with colours. Blue shows subjects, red shows helping verbs.

• There's an empty room here, isn't there?
• My sister was waiting here, wasn't she?
• We've gotten lost, haven't we?
• This school doesn't have an air conditioner, does it?
• Susan and Louise worked here, didn't they?
• You can reach the button, can't you?

Note: two final observations on this topic. Firstly, as you might know, you can't contract 'am not'. So tag questions starting with 'I am...' lead to a problem. The two possible solutions, each of which is a little problematic, are a) to say '...aren't I?' or b) to say '...am I not?'

The second observation is that most textbooks list '...shall we?' as the appropriate tag question after 'Let's' and '...won't you?' or '...will you?' after imperative sentences. A few closing examples to illustrate these points:

• I'm sitting in the right seat, aren't I? or:
• I'm sitting in the right seat, am I not?
• Let's go home now, shall we?
• Lend me $5, will you?

Exercise:

Fill in the blanks with the correct words to make a suitable tag question.

1. The weather is beautiful today, __________?
2. You broke the window, __________?
3. It isn't safe to walk in this neighbourhood, __________?
4. She hasn't learned very much, __________?
5. This window looks pretty dirty, __________?
6. Let's order a pizza, __________?
7. Those kids are really growing up, __________?
8. I don't know what I'm talking about, __________?
9. Sit down, __________?
10. There must be a mistake, __________?
11. You have to go home early today, __________?
12. The dog needs food, __________?
13. I am in your class, __________?
14. I should listen to you, __________?
15. This exercise wasn't very difficult, __________?