let's learn hints on tag questions

hello everyone let's speak today about question tags:

You speak English, don't you?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".
We use tag questions at the end of statements to ask for confirmation. They mean something like: "Am I right?" or "Do you agree?" They are very common inEnglish.
The basic structure is: +Positive statement, -negative tag?
Snow is white, isn't it? -Negative statement, +positive tag?
You don't like me, do you?
Look at these examples with positive statements:
positive statement [+]
negative tag [-]
notes: subject \ auxiliary \ main verb

auxiliary not personal pronoun(same as subject)

You are coming, are n't you?

We have finished, haven't we?

You do like coffee, don't you?

You like coffee, don't you?
You (do) like...
They will help, wo n't they? won't = will not

I can come, can't I?

We must go, must n't we?

He should try harder, should n't he?

You are English, are n't you?

no auxiliary for main verb be present & past

John was there, was n't he?
Look at these examples with negative statements:
negative statement [-]
positive tag [+]
subject \auxiliary \main verb
auxiliary \personalpronoun(same as subject)





It isn't raining, is it?

We have never seen that, have we?

You don't like coffee, do you?

They will not help, will they?

They won't report us, will they?

I can never do it right, can I?

We must n't tell her, must we?

He should n't drive so fast, should he?

You are n't English, are you?

John was not there, was he?

Some special cases:

I am right, aren't I?

aren't I (not amn't I)

You have to go, don't you?

you (do) have to go...

I have been answering, haven't I?

use first auxiliary

Nothing came in the post, did it?

treat statements with nothing, nobody etc like negative statements

Let's go, shall we?

let's = let us

He'd better do it, hadn't he?

he had better (no auxiliary)

Here are some mixed examples:

But you don't really love her, do you?

This will work, won't it?

Well, I couldn't help it, could I?

But you'll tell me if she calls, won't you?

We'd never have known, would we?

The weather's bad, isn't it?

You won't be late, will you?

Nobody knows, do they?

Notice that we often use tag questions to ask for information or help, starting with a negative statement. This is quite a friendly/polite way of making a request. For example, instead of saying "Where is the police station?" (not very polite), or "Do you know where the police station is?" (slightly more polite), we could say: "You wouldn't know where the police station is, would you?" Here are some more examples:
You don't know of any good jobs, do you?

You couldn't help me with my homework, could you?

You haven't got $10 to lend me, have you?

next :punctuation ....wait for us