Question Tags

In English, a tag question is a unique construction. It begins with a statement and is followed by a mini-question. Question tags are used to obtain confirmation.
Examples,
• You are coming to the party, aren’t you?
• She is a doctor, isn’t she?

Rules for question tags:

• Sentence and question tag should be in the same tense.

• If the sentence is positive, the question tag will be negative and vice-versa.

• Always use pronoun in the question tag.

• In negative question tag, helping verb will always be in the contracted form.

• There is no contracted form of ‘am not’, hence, ‘aren’t’ is used.

• Some words like, seldom, hardly, scarcely, etc. are negative in meaning, hence, positive question tag is used with them.
E.g. You hardly go to gym these days, do you?

• If a sentence begins with ‘let us/ let’s’, the question tag will be ‘shall we?’
E.g. Let us have dinner, shall we?

Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the correct question tag.

1. He is from a small town in Punjab, _________?
a. is he
b. isn’t it
c. doesn’t he
d. isn’t he

2. Shut up, ________?
a. don’t you
b. won’t you
c. isn’t you
d. weren’t you

3. We are late again, _________?
a. aren’t we
b. don’t we
c. are we
d. isn’t it

4. You were bored at the party, _________?
a. were you
b. aren’t you
c. weren’t you
d. didn’t you

5. She is in love with music, _________?
a. doesn’t she
b. isn’t she
c. does she
d. is she

6. He isn’t in Army, ___________?
a. isn’t he
b. does he
c. is he
d. doesn’t he

7. I like sweets very much, ________?
a. aren’t I
b. didn’t I
c. won’t I
d. don’t I

8. He studies very hard, _________?
a. doesn’t he
b. isn’t it
c. does he
d. isn’t he

9. She often comes home late, ________?
a. does she
b. doesn’t she
c. isn’t she
d. is she

10. They don’t watch TV much, ________?
a. did they
b. don’t they
c. do they
d. didn’t they

Answers

1. D
2. B
3. A
4. C
5. B
6. C
7. D
8. A
9. B
10. C