Gede Eka Putrawan, S.S., M.Hum

Question tag is an expression used at the end of a sentence to ask forconfirmation or agreement about something we are not sure.

The tag is constructed by finding out the auxiliary verb of the sentenceand then put it at the end part.

It is used particularly in spoken English.

Question tag adalah untuk sebuah pertanyaan yang dibuat dalam satukalimat untuk sebuah penegasan. Kadang-kadang pertanyaan jenis initidak membutuhkan jawaban apapun, kecuali hanya untuk penegas sipembicara kepada yang diajak bicara. dalam bahasa Indonesiaquestion tag adalah kata "bukan?" “kan?” untuk sebuah penegasan.

Contoh:- dia anak pintar, kan?- kamu mengerti, bukan?

If the main part of the sentence is positive, the question

tag is negative.

if the main part of the sentence is negative, the question

tag is positive.

Questions tags are auxiliaries (kt. bantu) and pronouns

(kt. ganti).

The statement and the tag are always separated by a

comma.

Treat any statements with nothing, nobody etc. like

negative statements.

QUESTION

TAGS

You can swim,

You can’t swim,

can’t you?

can you?

Main

clause/statement

Main

clause/statement

+

+

-

-

Tag

Tag

We form question tags

with an auxiliary verb

(e.g. be, have, do) or a

modal

(e.g. can, could, will,

would)

+Pronoun

Q

U

E

S

T

I

O

N

T

A

G

I am

It

I am right, am not I? Aren’t I?

Nothing is missing is it?

Imperative

Suggestion

There

They

-

+

-

+

Open the door,

Don’t open the door,

will you?

will you?

Let’s start, shall we?

There is a letter for me, isn’t there?

Somebody called me,

Nobody called me,

didn’t they?

did they?

Positive Statement, Negative Tag?

Negative Statement, Positive Tag?

Statement (+) Question Tag (-)

Mira is a nurse, isn’t she?

She comes here, doesn’t she?

Soeharto led this country for more than 10 years, didn’t he?

He had met him before, hadn’t he?

Statement (+) Question Tag (-)

She does not cook every day, does she?

They haven’t sacrificed their life for us, have they?

We were not lazy, were we?

The question tag for ‘I am’ is ‘aren’t I?

e.g. I’m the fastest, aren’t I? not: am not I?

When the statement is positive, but contains a negative word (never,

barely, seldom, scarcely, hardly) then the question tag must be in

positive form.

e.g. They seldom visit their children, do they?

Tantri never reads the Jakarta Post, does she?

When the subjects of the statement are somebody, someone,

everybody, everyone, nobody, and none, the personal pronoun in

the QT must be they.

e.g. Somebody is looking at me, aren’t they?

nobody called me, did they?

When the subjects of the statement are something, everything, nothing, the pronoun in QT is it.e.g. Everything is running well, isn’t it?

Nothing can change my love for you, can it?

When the subject of a positive statement in simple present is I, the QT is “aren’t I?” and not vice versa.e.g. I am a successful student, aren’t I?

I am a scholar, aren’t I? I am not late, am I? I am not a good man for her, am I?

The QT of let’s is “shall we?”e.g. Let’s go to the movie, shall we?

Let’s go, shall we?

The QT of imperative (kalimat perintah) is “will ”, “would”, “won’t”. e.g. Go out, will you?

Don’t smoke here, will you?Open the window, will you?Open the window, would you?

We use won't with a polite request e.g. Open the window, won't you?

The pronoun for the baby is it. e.g. The baby is sleeping now, isn’t it?

The QT of there is there. e.g. There is a letter for me, isn’t there?

In informal context/situation, the question tags used are usually right, OK, correct. e.g. John isn’t going, right?

I am your teacher, OK?

If there is a modal verb in the main part of the sentence the question taguses the same modal verb.e.g. They couldn’t hear me, could they?

You won’t tell anyone, will you?We should have left earlier, shouldn't we?

Question tags can either be ‘real’ questions where you

want to know the answer or simply asking for agreement

when we already know the answer.

If the question tag is a real question we use rising

intonation. Our tone of voice rises.

If we already know the answer we use falling

intonation. Our tone of voice falls.

You're English, You're not German,You are a good singer, You didn't go to work yesterday, You have been to London, She doesn't like it, You can sing, They shouldn't do that,He eats meat,He had a bath, Nothing happened,Peter can play football,

aren't you?

are you?

aren't you?

did you?

haven’t you?does

she?can’t you?

should they?

doesn’t he?

didn’t he?

did it?

can’t he?

He was on the team last year, She has been swimming, She hasn't been playing tennis, You're a mechanic, Kiki doesn’t write a letter before bed, We came home late last night, You didn’t see me, He sells toys, You are a student, They mustn’t buy the car, He won’t be happy, It seldom barks, You wouldn’t like a puppy,

wasn’t he?

hasn’t she?

has she?

aren’t you?

does she?

didn’t we?

did you?

doesn’t she?

aren’t you?

must they?

will he?

doesn’t it?

would you?

They don’t take the book,

She has never taken the boxes,

Susan was not from her hometown,

Someone let us go,

Dogs like meat,

He's been to Texas,

He'll never know,

Shut up,

None understood that word,

Deti had planned this,

do they?

has she?

was she?

didn’t they?

don’t they?

hasn’t he?

will he?

will you?

did they?

hadn’t she?