Tag Questions — Rules, Examples & Exercise

A tag question is the short question added to the end of a statement to seek agreement — "You are coming, aren't you?". The rule is one of opposites: a positive statement takes a negative tag and a negative statement takes a positive tag. The tag reuses the statement's auxiliary and a pronoun for its subject, and the whole tag is always contracted.

Where it is set: SSC & HSC English 2nd Paper — Grammar

The rule of opposites

A tag question always takes the opposite polarity to the statement it follows. A positive statement gets a negative tag, and a negative statement gets a positive tag. There is no version of this rule with an exception for meaning — it is purely mechanical.

The tag is always contracted in the negative form: isn't it, not is not it. This is one of the few places in written English where a contraction is compulsory rather than informal.

• ✓ He is a good boy, isn’t he? — positive statement → negative tag
• ✓ He is not a good boy, is he? — negative statement → positive tag
• ✗ He is a good boy, is not he? ✓ He is a good boy, isn’t he? — the negative tag must be contracted

Which auxiliary the tag uses

The tag reuses the auxiliary already present in the statement. If the statement has no auxiliary — that is, if its verb is a plain present or past form — the tag supplies do, does or did to match the tense.

• ✓ She sings well, doesn’t she? — no auxiliary in the statement, so does is supplied
• ✓ I am late, aren’t I? — “amn’t” does not exist in standard English; “aren’t I” is the fixed form

Which pronoun the tag uses

The subject of a tag is always a pronoun, never a noun. Replace the statement's subject with the pronoun that stands for it, and match the number carefully.

• A noun subject becomes he, she, it or they: Rahim is late, isn’t he?
• This, that and a singular idea become it: This is your book, isn’t it?
• These, those and plural ideas become they: These are yours, aren’t they?
• Everyone, everybody, someone, nobody, none take a singular verb but the pronoun they: Everybody came, didn’t they?
• Everything, nothing, something take it: Nothing happened, did it?
• There in “there is / there are” is repeated as there: There is a problem, isn’t there?

• ✓ Everybody likes him, don’t they? — plural pronoun with a singular verb in the statement
• ✓ There were many people, weren’t there? — there is repeated, not replaced

Hidden negatives

A sentence can be negative without containing the word not. Words that carry a negative sense make the statement negative, so the tag must be positive. This is the single most common trap in the item.

• Negative words: never, no, none, nothing, nobody, no one, neither, nowhere.
• Words with a negative sense: hardly, scarcely, barely, rarely, seldom, few, little.
• Note that a few and a little are positive; few and little alone are negative.
• A negative prefix does not make a sentence negative: He is unhappy is a positive statement and takes isn’t he?

• ✓ He seldom comes here, does he? — seldom is negative in sense, so the tag is positive
• ✗ He is unhappy, is he? ✓ He is unhappy, isn’t he? — a negative prefix does not make the sentence negative

Imperative and optative sentences

Sentences that are not statements take fixed tags that have to be learned rather than worked out. They do not follow the rule of opposites.

• ✓ Let us play football, shall we? — Let us meaning “let’s” takes shall we
• ✓ Let us go home, will you? — when let us asks permission of someone, it takes will you

Practice

Work through these before you check the answers — the reasoning matters more than the answer.

1. He works hard, ___?
2. They have never been to Dhaka, ___?
3. Everybody was present, ___?
4. Let’s watch a movie, ___?
5. There is nothing in the box, ___?
6. Open the window, ___?
7. He hardly speaks English, ___?
8. I am your friend, ___?

Answers

1. doesn’t he — positive statement with no auxiliary, so does is supplied.
2. have they — never makes the statement negative, so the tag is positive.
3. weren’t they — everybody takes a singular verb but the pronoun they.
4. shall we — the fixed tag for a Let’s invitation.
5. is there — nothing is negative, and there is repeated as the subject.
6. will you — the fixed tag for an imperative.
7. does he — hardly is negative in sense.
8. aren’t I — the fixed form; “amn’t I” is not standard English.