The use of tag questions in English (EFL/ESL Grammar: rules, use and practice)

The use of tag questions in English (EFL/ESL Grammar: rules, use and practice)

Tag questions are short questions that we put at the end of statements in English. Tag questions are very easy to learn. We use tag questions to check information that we already think it is true. Sometimes, we use them to involve others in dialogues and conversations. Go over the following post to understand the rules and the use of tag questions in English

To form tag questions, we use an auxiliary verb (be, have, can, should…etc) and a subject pronoun such as : (I, he, she, they…etc.).

Notes:

Negative tag questions are usually contracted.
Basically, if the main statement is positive, the tag question is negative and vice versa.
If the main sentence includes an auxiliary as : (be, have or a modal as : could, should …etc.) we use it in the tag question. If it doesn’t include it we use (do or did depending on the tense).

Examples :

It is a beautiful day. Isn’t?
You were at school. Weren’t you ?
She is so cute. Isn’t she?
She is not home. Is she?
They weren’t abset. Were they?
She couldn’t open the door. Could she?

Postive sentences, with negative tags

Present simple ‘be’	She’s from london, isn’t she?
Present simple other verbs	They live in Morocco, don’t they?
Present continuous	We’re coming, aren’t we?
Past simple ‘be’	It was hot yesterday, wasn’t it?
Past simple other verbs	He wentout, didn’t he?
Past continuous	We were waiting, weren’t we?
Present perfect	They’ve been to Japan, haven’t they?
Present perfect continuous	She’s been sleeping, hasn’t she?
Past perfect	He had run a lot, hadn’t he?
Past perfect continuous	We’d been singing, hadn’t we?
Future simple	She’ll come at six, won’t she?
Future continuous	They’ll be studying, won’t they?
Future perfect	They’ll have finished by 6, won’t they?
Future perfect continuous	She’ll have been studying all day, won’t she?
Modals	He can lift the table, can’t he?
Modals	Laura must go, mustn’t he?

Negative sentences, with positive tags

Present simple ‘be’	He is not late, is he?
Present simple other verbs	She doesn’t have any milk, does she?
Present continuous	The tutor isn’t coming, is he?
Past simple ‘be’	He wasn’t at school, was she?
Past simple other verbs	They didn’t prepare for the test, did they?
Past continuous	You weren’t sleeping, were you?
Present perfect	She hasn’t eaten all the cake, has she?
Present perfect continuous	He hasn’t been running in this weather, has he?
Past perfect	We hadn’t been to London before, had we?
Past perfect continuous	You hadn’t been sleeping, had you?
Future simple	They won’t be late, will they?
Future continuous	He won’t be working tomorrow, will he?
Future perfect	She won’t have been here by 6, will she?
Future perfect continuous	He won’t have been sleeping all day, will he?
Modals	She can’t speak English, can she?
Modals	They mustn’t throw this here, must they?