Tag Questions

              “Let’s read”      Robioul Islam

                                          Read first then say,------------------------------------------

Introduction: 

Conversation এর সময় sentence এর সত্যতা যাচাই করে আনার জন্যে sentence এর শেষে একটা ছোট প্রশ্ন তুলে ধরা হয়, সেটাই Tag question.

Tag question দুই ক্ষেত্রে হতে পারে, Negative এবং positive status । 

Positive sentence এ Negative Tag. যাতে থাকবে Auxiliary Verb following tense +n’t pronoun of subject এবং?

Negative sentence এ Positive Tag. যাতে থাকবে Auxiliary Verb following tense + pronoun of subject 

The basic structure of a tag question is:

Positive Statement Tag Questions

 Students(subject) are(auxiliary verb) coming,   (auxiliary verb)aren't they(subjectএর pronoun)?

(+) positive statement (-) negative tag

                           Auxiliary+n’t personal 

You are coming, aren't you?

We have finished, haven't we?

You do like coffee, don't you?

You like coffee, don't you?

They will help, won't they?

I can come, can’t i?

We must go, mustn't we?

He should try harder, shouldn't he?

You are English, aren't you?

John was there, wasn't he?

Thanks,Andaman. All credits go to my parents and teachers?            don't they?

Negative Statement Tag Questions

(-) negative statement (+) positive tag

                Auxiliary personal pronoun.

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 mustn't tell her,         must we?

He shouldn't drive so fast, should he?

You won't be late,         will you?

You aren't English,         are you?

John was not there,                   was he?

Imperative Status Tag questions(Will you)

Let us go to school,         Shall we?

Let me do it,         Will you? 

Let them do the sum, Will you?

Come in,                 Will you?

Oh, hurry up,         Will you?

For God sake be quite,         would you?/Will you?

Don’t make a noise, Will you?

Don’t forget your key,         Will you?

Exclamatory Status Tag questions

How beautiful the Girl is! Isn’t she?

How Nice the Flower is! Isn’t she?

What a fool you are!  Aren’t you?

How sweetly the bird sings! Doesn’t it?

Step #1

Pronoun selection

Subject                                                                  Pronoun

Indefinite pronoun:                                                                                          He/She

 Everybody, Everyone, Anybody,                                                                    They

Anyone, Somebody, Someone, Nobody, None, 

No one, Neither                                                                                     

All of, None of/ some of, Most of/ Everyone of + Us,                                 We

All of, None of/ some of, Most of/ Everyone of + They,                         They

All of, None of/ some of, Most of/ Everyone of + you,                                 You 

All of, None of/ some of, Most of/ Everyone of + plural Noun,                 They

One                                                                                                                 He/ you

Sun, death, summer, war, winter.                                                                He

Train, ship, country, air plane, Moon, Earth, season. Flower                         She

Nothing, Something, Everything, Anything,                                                 It 

Kids, baby, Animals or beasts,                                                                 It 

This, That, little, a little, the little                                                                  It

These, Those, Few, A few, The few                                                               they

None of, Some of , Most of + it,                                                                 It

There                                                                                                         there

No man                                                                                                         Any

Step#2

Auxiliary verb selections

(Positive statement:)

Present indefinite  (do, does) Tawaf catches the bird, doesn't he? students catch the bird, don't they?

Present continuous (am, is, are)Tawaf is catching the bird, isn't he? i am coming, ain't(aren't) i?

Present perfect(have, has)Tawaf's caught the bird,                                                 hasn't he?

Present perfect continuous(have been, has been)Tawaf's been catching the bird, hasn't he?

Past indefinite (did)Tawaf caught the bird,                                                             didn't he?

Past continuous (was, were)Tawaf was catching the bird,                                     wasn't he?

Past perfect(had)Tawaf'd caught the bird,                                                              hadn't he?

Past perfect continuous(had been)Tawaf had been catching the bird,                   hadn't he?

Future indefinite (shall, will)Tawaf will catch the bird,                                        won't he

Future continuous (shall be will be)Tawaf will be catching the bird,                   won't he?

Future perfect(shall have, will have)Tawaf will have caught the bird,                 won't he?

Future  perfect continuous(shall have been, will have been)Tawaf will have been catching the bird,                                                 won't he?

(Negative statement:)

Present indefinite(do, does) Tawaf doesn't catch the bird,does he? students don't catch the bird,do they?

Present continuous (am, is, are)Tawaf isn't catching the bird, is he? i am not(amn't) coming, am i?

Present perfect(have, has)Tawaf hasn't the bird,                                                                    has he?

Present perfect continuous(have been, has been)Tawaf hasn't been catching the bird,         has he?

Past indefinite (did)Tawaf didn't catch the bird,                                                 did he?

Past continuous (was, were)Tawaf wasn't catching the bird,                              was he?

Past perfect(had)Tawaf had't caught the bird,                                                     had he?

Past perfect continuous(had been)Tawaf hadn't been catching the bird,             had he?

Future indefinite (shall, will)Tawaf willn't catch the bird,                                 will he?

Future continuous (shall be will be)Tawaf willn't be catching the bird,             will he?

Future perfect(shall have, will have)Tawaf willn't have caught the bird,           will he?

Future  perfect continuous(shall have been, will have been)Tawaf willn't have been catching the bird,                     will he?

To be verb selections

(Am, Is, Are, Was, Were)

I am a student,            (aren't) ain't i? don't i?

You are brilliant,        (aren't) ain't you?don't you?

She is meritorious,     isn't she? doesn't she?

Alif was happy,          wasn't he? didn't he?

people were busy,      weren't they? didn't they?

To have verb selections

(Have, Has, Had)

Maria has a pen.              hasn't she?         doesn't she?

We have a pond.              haven't we?        don't we?

students had a teacher.     hadn't they?       didn't they?

Modal auxiliary verb selections

Can,         May,         Will,       Shall,         Used to,

Could,      Might,   Would,     Should,     Ought to,

Have to,                 Has to,             Had to,

Am going to,         Is going to,     Are going to,

Had better,             Had rather,

Would better,         Would rather,

Need,     Dare,     Must;

Tag Question Special Cases: 

Negative Adverbs, The adverbs Few (Not a few or the few), little (Not a little or the little), never, rarely, seldom, hardly, barely and scarcely have a negative sense.

Hardly (meaning with difficulty), Never (meaning not at any time), rarely (meaning not often), scarcely (meaning probably not), Seldom (meaning almost never)

She hardly ever helps anybody,             does she?

Few people are happy,                            are they?

He is seldom late,                                   is he?

There is little water in the pot,                is there?

little progress has been made,                 has it?

Extend statements tag questions:

that's right, i'm afraid, i'm sure, i think, i believe, i suspect এগুলোর কোন tag হয় না। 

       I'm afraid, they can't do it, can they? 

       I think, he will come soon. won't he?

       I don't think, he could do it. could he?

Tag questions for competitive exams:

• Her needs are few, Are they?
• Let me call you, will you?
• Please. Wait here, will you?
• Don't cross the road, won't you?
• Shut up, can't you?
• Please, let us go, will you?
• Let's go, shall we?
• We need his help, don't we? needn't we
• She need n't go there, Need she?
• Few people knew the answer, Did they?
• No one loves me, Do they?
• She used to play tennis, Didn't she? usedn't she?
• She used to dance well before her marriage, Didn't she? usedn't she?
• They couldn't do it, could they?
• They'd do it, couldn't they? would'n they?
• They'd done it, hadn't they?
• I'm afraid, they can't do it, can they?
• This is my old friend sunil. isn't it? isn't he?
• That was not my bike, was it?
• A little progress has been made, hasn't it?
• A little food are needed, isn't it ?
• Few boys are playing in the field, are they ?