Grammar reference and practice 9.2

9.2 ■ Question tags

A question tag is a short question that we sometimes add at the end of a statement.

• ■After an affirmative statement, the question tag is negative.

  He's part of the film crew, isn't he?

  ■After a negative statement, the question tag is affirmative.

  War films aren't very interesting, are they?

The verb used in the question tag depends on the verb that is used in the statement. If there is an auxiliary verb, we repeat the auxiliary verb and add a pronoun. The tense for the auxiliary verb matches the tense used in the statement.

The film set is very convincing, isn't it?

The actors weren't very good, were they?

Leah won't be late, will she?

You haven't seen Tom, have you?

If there is no auxiliary verb, we use the auxiliary verb do / does for a present simple verb, or did for a past simple verb.

Lauren likes costume dramas, doesn't she?

You finished the crossword, didn't you?

The intonation used in question tags affects the meaning.

• ■We use rising intonation when we aren't sure if what we are saying is true, and we want the other person to confirm it.

  You don't like romantic comedies, do you?

  ■We use falling intonation when we are sure that what we are saying is true, and we want the other person to agree with us.

  Sarah hasn't started taking acting lessons, has she?

1Choose the correct words. 

• 1Ellen's finished all her exams, isn'tdoesn'thasn't she?

• 2You won the art prize this year, haven'tdidn'twon you?

• 3Everyone enjoyed the film, didn'tdiddon't they?

• 4We won't make the same mistake next year, willdomake we?

• 5I'm not doing anything wrong, dodon'tam I?

• 6Shaun loves science fiction, doesdoesn'tisn't he?

• 7It's a beautiful day today, aren'tisisn't it?

• 8You will come to the theatre with us tonight, aren'tdon'twon't you?

• 9The first broadcast by the BBC was in 1922, didn'twasn'tam it?

• 10The programme about the history of the BBC hasn't started yet, hasdoesis it?

• 11We haven't missed the train, havedidhaven't we?

• 12You will call me, willwon'tdon't you?

 2Complete the sentences with question tags. Use one of the verbs in A and one of the pronouns in B in each sentence. 

MOVEA
• have
• can
• isn't
• doesn't
• haven't
• do
• can't
• is

MOVEB
• you
• you
• they
• it
• I
• we
• she
• he

• 1They've chosen Antoinette to be in the school play,    ?

• 2You and Tania can swim,    ?

• 3Tom isn't writing the whole script,    ?

• 4You haven't thought about this very much,    ?

• 5We can't use that as a headline,    ?

• 6The exam's going to be very hard,    ?

• 7Sally likes costume dramas,    ?

• 8I don't look very good in this,    ?

3Write statements with question tags for these situations. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task. You also need to use correct punctuation.

• 1You want confirmation that the train leaves at six o'clock.

• 2You want someone to confirm that you aren't far from the station.

• 3You want someone to confirm that Paul will be at the party.

• 4You want confirmation that Amanda has finished with the computer.

• 5You want someone to agree that Mark is going to win the race.

• 6You want confirmation that the film doesn't start until eight o'clock.

• 7You want someone to agree that it's very hot in the room.

• 8You want someone to confirm that George and Samantha aren't American.

• 9You want someone to agree that Lionel Messi is the best football player.

• 10You want confirmation that Andrea has a red car.

• 11You want someone to confirm that the exam will start at one o'clock.

• 12You want someone to agree that Isabel's hair looks very nice.