Tag questions (present and past)

About tag questions

Tag questions turn a statement into a question. They are often used to check the information that we think is correct. Tag questions are mostly used in spoken English.

Characteristics of tag questions:

Use an auxiliary verb – be or have
A subject pronoun – I, you, she
Contracted negative question tags – It’s cold today, isn’t it (not ‘is it not’)
If the main clause is positive, then the question tags are negative – It’s cold today (positive), isn’t it (negative)?
If the main clause is negative, then the question tags are positive – It’s not cold today (negative), is it (positive)?
If the main clause has an auxiliary verb, use the same verb in the tag question. If there is no auxiliary verb, in the present simple and the past simple then use; do/does/did
The exception – the question tag after I am is aren’t I

Positive sentences, with negative tags

Present simple: ‘be.’	She’s Italian, isn’t she?
Present simple other verbs	They live in London, don’t they?
Present continuous	We’re working tomorrow, aren’t we?
Past simple ‘be.’	It was cold yesterday, wasn’t it?
Past simple other verbs	He went to the party last night, didn’t he?
Past continuous	We were waiting at the station, weren’t we?
Present perfect	They’ve been to Japan, haven’t they?
Present perfect continuous	She’s been studying a lot recently, hasn’t she?
Past perfect	He had forgotten his wallet, hadn’t he?
Past perfect continuous	We’d been working, hadn’t we?
Future simple	She’ll come at six, won’t she?
Future continuous	They’ll be arriving soon, won’t they?
Future perfect	They’ll have finished before nine, won’t they?
Future perfect continuous	She’ll have been cooking all day, won’t she?
Modals	He can help, can’t he?
Modals	John must stay, mustn’t he?

Negative sentences, with positive tags

Present simple ‘be’	We aren’t late, are we?
Present simple other verbs	She doesn’t have any children, does she?
Present continuous	The bus isn’t coming, is it?
Past simple ‘be.’	She wasn’t at home yesterday, was she?
Past simple other verbs	They didn’t go out last Sunday, 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 studying tonight, will he?
Future perfect	She won’t have left work before six, will she?
Future perfect continuous	He won’t have been traveling all day, will he?
Modals	She can’t speak Arabic, can she?
Modals	They mustn’t come early, must they?

Grammar Quiz – Tag questions (present and past)

Complete these sixteen sentences to score your knowledge of tag questions

Conclusion

Tag questions can be very confusing for EFL students. They contain a statement and then a question. The question would seem to contradict the statement, because it is opposite from the question, if the question is positive, the tag question is negative and vice-versa.

Suggested Reference books on Grammar

Understanding and Using English Grammar by Betty Azar
English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy

Summary

Article Name

Tag questions (Present)

Description

Grammar quiz-tag questions-present.

Author

Aaron Skudder

Publisher Name

English for foreigners online

Publisher Logo

Reply

July 25, 2019
Cathy Cavarzan

Loved your quiz I found it very interesting. I managed to get 12 out of 16 correct. I was a little disappointed in that I being not a foriegner would get them all correct. LOL However I was amazed that I remembered some from school as I was reading this I could almost hear my English teacher drilling it into our heads. Great job.
- Reply
  
  July 25, 2019
  Aaron Skudder
  
  Thanks for your comments, Cathy.
  
  I will be publishing some ‘English teaching games’ soon.
  
  regards
  
  Aaron
Reply

July 25, 2019
Adyns68

Hi Aaron

I like tag questions. For me, they are a beautiful way of speaking. It is something that we don’t usually use in French. I know that they can be tricky and I did not ace them in my TOEFL test. But I came to understand them later, I do not know if it is the rule but I understood that when the sentence was positive, the tag question should be in negative, right? and vice-versa.

That is what I applied to score a perfect score at your test.

Thanks
- Reply
  
  July 25, 2019
  Aaron Skudder
  
  Hi
  
  Thanks for your comments. Yes, you are correct about the negative/positive rule.
  
  regards
  
  Aaron
Reply

September 27, 2019
Carmen

WOW. I did the test in the game lol and got score 13. Which means you explained very well. I am not an English speaker. This result encourages me to learn. Your web site is excellent for me. Thanks to him I hope to improve my knowledge of English. Thanks