Question Tags | English Grammar Lesson | B2-Upper Intermediate

[Music]

Hello and welcome, everyone, to today's  presentation, which is based on a question  

that Jean Paul, I think, sent me. So, let me share  my screen. This is the question Jean Paul asked:  

Can we use 'isn't it' or 'no' as a universal tag  for all questions? I think the question comes  

because, in French, I think you can say 'isn't  it' for all all tags, and in Spanish 'no'. But,  

I'm afraid in English, there is no universal tag  that works with all questions. We must create a  

tag for each case. It's a little complicated, so  let's go through the rules and some revision of  

special tags as well. So, starting with the  two main rules for regular question tags:  

The first rule is: You need to add a negative  tag to a positive statement and a positive  

tag to a negative statement. While we're here,  let me correct this so we don't see a mistake:  

to a negative statement. So, for example, if our  statement is: They have had a good time, the tag  

is: haven't they? rather than 'have they?' And,  if we have a negative statement: She has never  

been so angry, the tag is: has she? Positive. not  .hasn't she?' Now notice I have underlined 'never'  

so that you remember that a negative statement can  be with a negative verb, like 'she hasn't been',  

but also with a negative word, like 'never' or 'no  longer'. So, be attentive that the statement needs  

to have a negative idea, and if it does, then  your tag is positive. So, that's rule number 1.  

Let's look at look at rule number 2: You need to  use the auxiliary verb of the exact same tense as  

your statement, for example if we have the same  sentence: They have had a good time, the tag is:  

haven't they? not 'didn't they?' I notice this as  a common mistake, thinking oh it's a past action,  

finished action, use any auxiliary in the past.  No. You have to be very strict and stick to the  

exact same tense: Present Perfect: they have had;  the tag is with the auxiliary of Present Perfect:  

haven't they? Or, for example another one that I  see commonly is: She isn't going to quit: 'going  

to' Future; the tag is not 'will she?' another  future tense, but 'is she?' So, be very strict  

with the auxiliary verb that you use. So, these  are the two important rules for regular question  

tags. But, I have a few notes to mention to  you. Note 1 is that you can use a non-contracted  

negative tag, but it sounds very formal. So, for  the sentence 'They have had a good time.' you  

could say: have they not? But, it's very formal.  I would avoid this kind of formulation, and that's  

why when we have a statement with 'I am', we often  use 'aren't I' as the contraction. 'amn't' doesn't  

exist. So, you could say: I'm right, am I not?  But again, it's very very formal. It's better to  

always say: I'm right, aren't I? So, that's the  first note. The second note: You must always use  

a pronoun in a tag, so if you have a name, proper  name, or noun, like: Jimmy has eaten. Don't say:  

hasn't Jimmy? You must use a pronoun. In this  case, for Jimmy, it's 'he': hasn't he? Now,  

then we have some indefinite nouns, like everyone,  someone, nobody, etc. With these, you need to  

use the genderless pronoun 'they'. For example:  Everyone has eaten, haven't they? And that's the  

positive one. And the negative sentence would be:  No-one has eaten, have they? I have one more note,  

and that is: You may sometimes, it's rare, but you  may rarely hear a positive tag after a positive  

statement. And if you hear that, the speaker  is expressing a strong emotion. For example,  

if you hear: He thinks he the boss, does he? the  person is angry. That expresses anger, or if you  

hear: She's having a baby, is she? Again, that's  with surprise. So, you have positive-positive, and  

that is a very rare case, but you may come across  it. Now, the very important thing to mention about  

tags in general is intonation. You can have a  rising intonation or a falling intonation. If you  

have, if your tag, has a rising intonation, it's  a real question, and you expect an answer; you  

wait for an answer. For example: You are enjoying  this movie, aren't you? It's a real question. You  

don't know; you're not sure, and maybe the answer  comes: Not really! Can we watch something else?  

That's an actual question that requires an answer  because your intonation rose. I'll read it again:  

You are enjoying this movie, aren't you? It  goes up, right? Now compare that with a falling  

intonation which means it's not a real question;  you don't really want an answer. You are pretty  

sure what the answer is. You just expect maybe  a confirmation, for example: you aren't enjoying  

this movie, are you? Let's watch something else.  You're right, it's a bit too violent for me. So,  

in this case, you can see the person is not  enjoying the movie. You just want a confirmation  

from them. So, I'll read that intonation again.  Notice that it will fall: You aren't enjoying this  

movie, are you? There's absolutely no rising,  no question form in this question intonation  

in this. Right so having clarified that, we  just need to finish with some special tags.  

One series, one group of special tags are for  orders and requests. So, you can make an order  

or order someone to do or not to do something,  and there you will use 'will'. For example:  

Give me a hand, will you? And: Don't feed the  cat, will you? And here, because it's an order,  

the intonation is falling. You're not really  asking anything, you're telling someone to do  

or not to do something: Give me a hand, will you?  Don't feed the cat, will you? Down. If you want,  

you can make a positive order into a request  by using a 'polite request' modal verb and also  

maybe adding the word 'please'. For example, you  can say: Give me a hand please, could you? Or:  

Give me a hand please, would you? And that's now  more of a request than an order. And the final  

group that we have to look at for special tags  is suggestions and offers. With this group, use  

'shall we?' and 'shall I?' So, if you're making a  suggestion for the group. it's: Let's get started,  

shall we? Or: Let's not jump to conclusions,  shall we? And now here for suggestions,  

your intonation is more of a rising intonation.  You kind of wait for everyone to say: Yeah okay,  

let's do that. You really need an answer,  saying: Yeah, we agree with your suggestion. So:  

Let's get started, shall we? Up. Let's not jump  to conclusions, shall we? Up. And you can also use  

'shall I?' if you're offering to do something, and  this only happens in positive offers. For example:  

Let me give you a hand, shall I? Again, you rise  because you wait for the answer: Yes please. Or:  

No, I'm okay. You can also use 'I'll':  I'll give you a hand, shall I? And again,  

you're offering to give the person a hand like  that with a ... Right, that's the the end of  

this presentation on question tags. I hope  it's clarified how to create question tags  

and some of the special cases that you need to be  careful with. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson.  

For more on this topic, click here. Remember  to also check out my complete online course,  

and don't forget to like and subscribe.  Thank you for watching and happy studies!