Grammar Practice - English Course Lesson 49 - English Grammar Explained. - Question tags
Welcome to Grammar lesson number 49. Thanks to this video you will learn how to use question tags which are very specific to english speaking.
We are going to learn a very important part of the grammar, the questions. Question tags are one of the elements that you have to know and know how to use to master this language and speak it correctly. Watch the video carefully, stop it and see it again as many times as you need and help with the subtitles to understand it.
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Lesson 49
Question Tags or Tag Questions
What is a question tag?
Question tags or Tag Questions are the short questions that we place at the end of sentences – common in spoken English. There are lots of different question tags “forms”. Let’s learn the rules!
Positive/negative
When the first and main part of the sentence is affirmative / positive, the Question tag is negative
It is late, isn’t it?
You work together, don’t you?
And if the first and main part of your sentence is negative, the question tag pr tag question is positive.
It isn’t too late, is it?
You don’t know each other, do you?
What verb to use to create my Question tag?
With auxiliary verbs
The question tag uses the same verb as the main part of the sentence. If this is an auxiliary verb (‘have’, ‘be’) then the question tag is made with the auxiliary verb.
They have visited Paris, haven’t they?
We weren’t aware of this, were we?
This is not bad, is it?
They had arrived, hadn’t they?
Without auxiliary verbs
If the first / main part of your sentence doesn’t have an auxiliary verb, the question tag uses a particular form of ‘do’ (did, do, does) (present, past… first, second of third person, singular or plural)
I moved to Spain then, didn’t I?
He doesn’t remember, does he?
They travel a lot, don’t they?
We left early, didn’t we?
With modal verbs (can, will, must..)
If you have a modal verb
in the first / main part of your sentence,
the question tag
uses the same modal verb
(can, will, must..).
They must leave early, mustn’t they?
She couldn’t understand me, could she?
They won’t go by car, will they?
He may leave, may he not?
With ‘I am’
Do be careful with question tags in sentences that start with ‘I am’. The question tag for ‘I am’ is ‘aren’t I?’
I’m European, aren’t I?
I am laid-back, aren’t I?
I am learning fast, aren’t I?
I am improving, aren’t I?
Sentence structure
Question tags are very common in spoken English. Be careful when writing them: they must start with a comma “,” and end with a question mark “?”.
Use
Question tags are very useful:
to ask specific questions
to ask for agreement when we already know the answer
Intonation
In some cases question tags require our tone of voice to rise. This is called rising intonation and is used for questions.
When the question tag is only there to highlight a statement, the intonation can fall, unlike with a real question.
So pay attention to the context.
When question tags
ask a specific question
they require our tone of voice to rise.
This is called rising intonation.
You were there, weren't you?
When question tags
ask for agreement,
the intonation can fall
unlike with a real question.
You agree, don’t you?
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