Positive statement + negative tag
A negative tag is formed of an auxiliary verb + n’t and a pronoun.
• It is very warm, isn’t it?
Negative statement + positive tag
A postive tag is formed of an auxiliary verb and a pronoun.
• It isn’t very warm, is it?
The pronoun (you, she, they…) refers to the subject of the sentence, e.g. you, John, Sally, they…
| Positive statement + negative tag | Negative statement + positive tag | |
| • You’ve been here before, haven’t you? • It’ll be dawn soon, won’t it? • They can play tennis, can’t they? • They are really nice, aren’t they? |
• You haven’t been here before, have you? • It won’t be dark soon, will it? • They can’t play tennis, can they? • They aren’t very nice, are they? |
In the Present Simple and Past Simple we use a form of do.
| Positive statement + negative tag | Negative statement + positive tag | |
| • You drive, don’t you? • It rained, didn’t it? • They play tennis, don’t they? • You made a mistake, didn’t you? • She showed you the letter, didn’t she? |
• You don’t drive, do you? • It didn’t rain, did it? • They don’t play tennis, do they? • You didn’t make a mistake, did you? • She didn’t show you the letter, did she? |
The answer yes means that the positive is true, and no means that the negative is true.
• Sally goes to Oxford University, doesn’t she?
–Yes, she does. (She goes to Oxford University.)
• John is a photographer, isn’t he?
–Yes, I believe he is. (He is a photographer.)
• You’re not engaged, are you?
–No, of course we’re not. (We aren’t engaged.)
• Terry likes theatre, doesn’t she?
–No, she doesn’t. (She doesn’t like theatre.)
Requests and suggestions
After a request with an imperative (e.g. Wait…), we can use can you? or could you?
• Wait here a moment, can you?
• Give me an example, could you?
We can also use You couldn’t …, could you? or You haven’t …, have you? for a request.
• You couldn’t help me, could you?
• You haven’t got a pound, have you?
After Don’t … the tag is will you?
• Don’t make so much noise, will you?
After Let’s … we use shall we?
• Let’s go for a walk, shall we?