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You understand question tags, don't you?
Here’s a brief explanation of question tags followed by a quiz to test your knowledge.
A tag question is a special construction in English. It is a statement followed by a mini-question. We use tag questions to ask for confirmation. They mean something like: “Is that right?” or “Do you agree?” They are very common in English.
In Italian you would simply say “no?”. But, ofcourse English is not that simple!
The basic structure of a tag question is:
| positive statement | negative tag |
|---|---|
| The weather is cold, | isn’t it? |
| negative statement | positive tag |
|---|---|
| You don’t like apples, | do you? |
Notice that the tag repeats the auxiliary verb (or main verb when be) from the statement and changes it to negative or positive.
So, how do you answer?
How do we answer a tag question? Often, we just say Yes or No. Sometimes we may repeat the tag and reverse it (They don’t live here, do they? Yes, they do).
Be very careful about answering tag questions.
Quick Tip
Answer a tag question according to the truth of the situation. Your answer reflects the real facts, not (necessarily) the question.
Here are some examples of how to answer a question asked with a question tag, with correct answers:
- The moon goes round the earth, doesn’t it? Yes, it does.
- The earth is bigger than the moon, isn’t it? Yes.
- The earth is bigger than the sun, isn’t it? No, it isn’t!
- Asian people don’t like rice, do they? Yes, they do!
- Elephants live in Europe, don’t they? No, they don’t!
- Men don’t have babies, do they? No.
- The English alphabet doesn’t have 40 letters, does it? No, it doesn’t.
Now try our quiz to test your knowledge.