Short explanation and a few examples

What is it?A tag question is a special construction in English. It is a statement followed by a mini-question. The whole sentence is a "tag question", and the mini-question at the end is called a "question tag":

“You like snacks, don't you?”

Using tag questionsUse tag questions to emphasize and encourage the other person to agree. They ask for a kind of confirmation like:

"Am I right? or "Do you agree?"

Structure.Just one thing is very important to know: A positive statement will be followed by a negative tag and vice versa:

“Walking is healthy, isn't it?” “Smoking isn't healthy, is it?”

Just a little bit of theory...

Positive statement > Positive statement > negative question tagnegative question tag

“ They love dogs, don't they?”

“ Tom will arrive tonight, won’t he?”

“ It’s a good day to play football, isn’t it?”

“ A teacher should try to explain things clearly, shouldn’t he?”

Negative statementNegative statement > positive question tag > positive question tag

“I cannot take this serious, can I?”

“ We shouldn’t fight about this, should we?”

“ I’m afraid they are not allowed to visit this club, are they?

Some more examples...