Tag Questions

What are tag questions?

Tag questions are positive or negative statements with a short question at the end.  Being able to use them correctly will greatly improve your spoken English by making conversations more natural. Broadly speaking, there are three reasons to use tag questions.

① When we want to check that a piece of information is correct, for example:

You were born in Hiroshima, weren't you?

He is from the USA, isn't he?

You don't work in a bank, do you?

Because these are real, yes/no questions they have rising intonation at the end.

② When you want to keep the conversation moving along, you want the other person to say something.  In this way, tag questions are used as a communication strategy.

The weather is nice today, isn't it?

The man over there is very tall, isn't he?

The music is very loud, isn't it?

These are not real questions. When you say something like this it is not to check if the information is correct, you know that the weather is nice, you can see the man is very tall and you can hear the very loud music.  Because they are not real questions they have falling intonation at the end. 

③ There is a third kind of tag question the will will look at later, (see the bottom of this post).

How do we make tag questions?

• Usually, a positive statement, (You were born in Hiroshima...) is followed by a negative tag, (...weren't you?). 
• A negative statement, (You don't work in a bank...) is followed by a positive tag (...do you?).
• If there is no auxiliary verb ( 助動詞 ) we use do in the tag.
• He plays soccer, doesn't he? = (He does play soccer, doesn't he?)
• They like beer, don't they? = (They do like beer, don't they?)
• The verb in the statement and tag should be the same tense.
• The music was very loud, wasn't it? (past tense)
• The music is very loud, isn't it?  (present tense)
• You have listened to the music, haven't you? (present perfect tense)
• He will listen to the music tomorrow, won't he? (future tense)

CLICK HERE for a tag questions quiz at EnglishClub.com 

③ The third kind of tag question is the most difficult to master. When we want to be sarcastic, or express disbelief, it is possible for a positive statement to be followed by a positive tag. Below are some examples.

A: Mary says that she is the best looking woman in the school.

B: Oh she does, does she?

A: I will earn one million dollars next month.

B: Oh you will, will you?

A: He says he's the best, does he?

A: You think your funny, do you?