Meaning
Everything before a Question Tag should be expressed as a statement. The tag that follows then has a meaning of something like, “Isn’t that true?”. It essentially transforms the statement into a Yes/No Question, although with a slightly more complex connotation.
A Yes/No Question like “Are you vegetarian?” has no bias; from a grammatical standpoint, there’s a 50/50 expectation on whether the answer is “yes” or “no”. But when a Question Tag is used, as in “You’re vegetarian, aren’t you?”, there is a greater expectation that the answer would be in the affirmative. Depending on intonation, that expectation may be either a mild bias or a confident one.
Structure
There should be a comma after the final (often the only) clause of the sentence, which should be structured as declarative. After that comma comes the tag, which then closes with a question mark.
Simple Tags
One of the most common tags is simply: “right?”
- “Jane has four sisters, right?“
Other possible tags include “eh?”, “true?”, “correct?”, “huh?”, “yeah?”, and “okay?”. The prevalence of any of these tags — along with the inclusion of any others — varies from one sub-culture to the next.
Obverse Tags
Obverse tags take the subject and the leading auxiliary of the preceding main clause and reverse their order, then switch their polarity: turn from positive to negative or from negative to positive.
- The first element of this kind of Question Tag should be an auxiliary verb. That auxiliary needs to match the very first auxiliary verb of the verb string in the original clause. If the original clause had no auxiliary verb, use DO instead.
- Make sure the form of DO both agrees with the subject that follows and is the appropriate tense.
- Next, if the original verb phrase is positive, then include not in the tag. If the original verb phrase is negative, then the tag should be positive (and not include any negators).
- In formal speech, not may come at the end of the tag, after the subject pronoun. However, most of the time, especially in casual speech, not is contacted as n’t and attached to the end of the auxiliary verb.
- The final element should be a pronoun that aligns with the subject of the original sentence.
Notice that for obverse tags, the auxiliary comes before the subject, which is the reverse of the basic declarative structure. This is known as subject-auxiliary inversion and is used in most other question forms, including Yes/No Questions.
Consider these examples:
- “I owe you any money, don’t I?“
- “Hannah won’t be returning, will she?“
- “This is really difficult, isn’t it?“
- “George could never admit his mistake, could he?“
See how the tag contains the same subject and leading auxiliary as the preceding clause.
Also notice that there is only ever one negator in each sentence. Between the original clause and the tag, one verb phrase is positive and the other is negative. We call this balanced.
Negative Original Clauses
When considering negation in English, it usually comes down to the adverbials not, never, or no longer. But when it comes to Question Tags, there are more terms that can make the original clause negative: the determiner no, especially when the main verb is BE or HAVE; the determiners none of or neither of; the conjunction pair of neither … nor; or subject pronouns like nothing, nobody, no one, or none. For example:
- “He has no idea what’s going on, does he?”
- “I’ve neither complained nor argued, have I?”
- “Nobody knows your secret, do they?”
For some English speakers, adverbs of minimal extent like barely, hardly, rarely, scarcely, or seldom may also qualify the original verb phrase as negative.
Unbalanced Tags
Unbalanced tags are similar to obverse tags, except that they do not balance the +/- polarity. Instead, they match the positivity or negativity of the original clause. For example:
- “Pay attention, will you?” (insistent)
- “Oh, it’s all my fault, is it?” (peeved)
- “You’re tired, are you? Big surprise.” (sarcastic)
Unbalanced tags aren’t nearly as common as obverse tags. Although they are still structured like questions, they are usually intended as statements or commands.
Intonation
Intonation is how pitch changes over the course of a sentence in order to reflect the attitude of the speaker. The intonation of Question Tags is incredibly important because it can alter the asker’s intention as well as the expectation of the listener.
- Obverse tags should have a rising intonation — meaning the pitch goes up at the end — if the speaker thinks they know what the answer is, but they’re unsure.
- Obverse tags should have a falling intonation — meaning the pitch goes down at the end — if the speaker is confident in the answer.
Most simple tags and unbalanced tags should have a rising intonation.
Usage
Genuine Queries
Most sentences that end in Question Tags (especially obverse tags) are somewhere between statements and Yes/No Questions in their intention. The asker states what they believe to be true, but ultimately ask for verification.
The expected response is a verification of the original declaration that comes before the tag. This might seem a little confusing for obverse tags, since the positivity or negativity of the tag is the reverse of both the original clause and the expected reply. For example:
- “She ruined my sweater, didn’t she?” — The expected answer is something like “Yes, she did.”
- “You‘ve never visited Scotland, have you?” — The expected answer is something like “No, I haven’t.”
If the original clause was actually false, then the reply can reverse its polarity, as in “No, she didn’t,” or “Actually, yes I have,” for the above examples.
Anyone asking a question with a “yes” or “no” possible response might simply choose to ask a Yes/No Question. Even if the asker thinks they know the answer, Y/N Questions remove bias and don’t place any expectations on the listener either way. Using Question Tags instead allows the speaker to express which answer they believe to be more likely.
Rhetorical Questions
Rhetorical Questions are statements at heart, even though they are structured like sentences. They are used to make the speaker’s point by way of prompting the listener to draw the intended conclusion rather than passively accepting the speaker’s assertion.
Question Tags can be used rhetorically, and they can be more effective as rhetorical questions than Yes/No Questions because they guide the listener toward a specific answer. For example:
- “Well, that’s hardly my fault, is it?”
- “He has no idea what’s coming, does he?”
- “You think you’re so tough, do you?”
In each of the above cases, the speaker doesn’t expect any reply. In fact, they might not even pause to allow the listener time to reply, but instead keep talking to continue making their point.
Also, sentences like these can often come across as rude or sarcastic.
Rhetorical Question Tags are almost always positive, regardless of whether the original clauses are positive or negative. This means that such questions may be either balanced or unbalanced.
The intonation for rhetorical questions should fall at the end.
Commands
Question Tags are usually tacked on to declarative clauses, but they can instead append to the end of imperative clauses. For example:
- “Pay attention, will you!“
- “Let’s begin, shall we?“
- “Hold the door for me, would you?“
These tags don’t alter the meaning of their sentences. In fact, you could remove the tags completely, and the sentences wouldn’t really change. Tags like these merely add emphasis.
For commands, we typically use will as the auxiliary verb. But we can also use would to be more polite, or shall to accompany a 1st-person subject.
In American English, Question Tags for commands should be positive, which means the sentences are usually unbalanced. (And by the way, it’s usually awkward to use such a tag for a negative command, as in “Don’t feed the zoo animals, will you?“) But in British English, Question Tags for commands should be negative, as in “Pay attention, won’t you?“
The intonation for commands should go up at the end.
Advanced Concepts
Special Auxiliary Usage
For the most part, a Question Tag’s auxiliary should be identical (accounting for contracted negators) to the leading auxiliary of the original clause. We’ve already mentioned that DO should be used if the original clause has no auxiliaries, but there are a few additional cases to consider.
Let
The motivating term let is paired with the modal shall, as in “Let’s begin, shall we?” or “Let me take a look at that, shall I?“
Have
Sometimes have is a main verb referring to possession and is unaccompanied by any auxiliaries. In American English, we add the auxiliary DO in the Question Tag. But in British English, we can use that same HAVE as an auxiliary. For example:
- AmE: “You have some gum with you, don’t you?“
- BrE: “You have some gum with you, haven’t you?“
Aren’t I?
When the 1st-person pronoun is used, the correct form of BE is usually ‘am’. But ‘am’ cannot be contracted with not: “Amn’t” isn’t a word. Since we usually rely on contractions to form Question Tags, we must resort to one of two options:
- Don’t use a contraction, as in “…, am I not?” However, this sounds very formal.
- Replace ‘am’ with ‘are’, as in “…, aren’t I?” This option is far more common in casual speech.
‘Question Tags’ vs. ‘Tag Questions’
While this article calls this topic ‘Question Tags’, it can also be called ‘Tag Questions’. The topic is the same, but they reference different things:
- ‘Question Tags’ refers to the expression that’s added to the end of a clause to turn the sentence into an interrogative one.
- ‘Tag Questions’ refers to the overall resulting sentence.
Both terms are acceptable in English Language Teaching; you can use whichever makes the most sense to you and your students, or whichever is consistent with the materials you use.
Teaching Tips
Mastery over Auxiliaries
Question Tags rely heavily on auxiliary verbs. Before teaching this topic, make sure students 1) can identify auxiliaries well; 2) know that BE can be a main verb and an auxiliary simultaneously; and 3) know to use DO if there are no other auxiliaries available. Students should also be familiar with the contracted forms of auxiliaries.
In 3 Parts
It may help to present obverse Question tags in three parts (not counting the inclusion of the proper punctuation):
- Repeat the leading auxiliary verb.
- Balance the +/- between the original clause, so that one is positive and the other is negative.
- Finish with a pronoun that matches the subject.
Insider Access
Visit our How to Teach Question Tags page on www.insightstoEnglish.com for a demonstrational video, bonus notes, printouts, a slideshow for your class, practice activities, and more.
Further Reading
Encyclopedia Pages
Insights Articles
- Using Voice to Convey Meaning
- project: You Know Me So Well
- project: What’s the Difference?
Intermediate Topics
CEFR Levels B1-B2: Pre-Intermediate to Upper Intermediate courses
