Tag Question

Tag Question

            Tag Question is a short form of question that goes to the end of a sentence. It is asked to justify the truth of something. It is widely used in Spoken English, often in dramas and informal (impolite) writings as well. 

Some contractions we need to remember:

Full Form	Short Form	Full Form	Short Form	Full Form	Short Form
I am- I have- I will- I would/ had- You are- You have- You would/had- He is/ has- He will- He would/ had- She is/has- She will- She would/ had- We are- We have- We will- We would/had-	I’m I’ve I’ll I’d You’re You’ve You’d He’s He’ll He’d She’s She’ll She’d We’re We’ve We’ll We’d	They are- They have- They will- They would/had- There is/has- There will- There would/had- Are not- Cannot- Could not- Dare not- Did not- Does not- Do not- (Am not, Are not, Is not, Have not, Has not)-	They’re They’ve They’ll They’d There’s There’ll There’d Aren’t Can’t Couldn’t Daren’t Didn’t Doesn’t Don’t Ain’t	Need not- Ought not- Shall not- Should not- Used not- Was not- Were not- Will not- Would not- Am not- May not- It is /has- It would/had-	Needn’t Oughtn’t Shan’t Shouldn’t Usedn’t Wasn’t Weren’t Won’t Wouldn’t Aren’t Mayn’t It’s It’d

Rule (1): Sentence যদি Affirmative হয় তাহলে আমা‡`i‡K Negative G DËi Ki‡Z n‡e|

            Mr. Mahabub is your English teacher, isn’t he?

            I hit him, didn’t I? I am a photographer, aren’t I? A story is told by him, isn’t it?

            Bangladesh is a small country, isn’t she? The sun rises in the east, doesn’t he?

Rule (2): Sentence যদি Negative হয় তাহলে আমা‡`i‡K Affirmative G DËi Ki‡Z n‡e|

            He has no dictionary, does he? He never tells a lie, does he? 

            A barking dog seldom bites, does it? Nothing can prevent me from going there, can it?

Nasim knows little about it, does he?

           

            Note: Try to find out, if there is any negative sing in a sentence. The negative signs are: (never, hardly, seldom, scarcely, none, no one, nobody, nothing, barely, hardly ever, little). If they exist in a sentence, the sentence is a Negative Sentence. So, we do not use ‘not’ in a Tag Question here.

Rule (3): Imperative Sentence, Negative ‡nvK Avi Affirmative- ই †nvK, Avgiv ‘will you’ e¨envi Kwi|    

            Do not hate the poor, will you?  Let us go home, shall we?

            Go there, will you? Always speak the truth, will you?

            Do not waste your time, will you? Let him learn English grammar, will you?

Rule (4): Everybody, everyone, everything, neither of them, no man, nobody, none, (every + noun), one, plural noun, take ‘they’ as a subject   

            Every mother loves her child, don’t they? Neither of them came to help me, did they?

            None can avoid death, can they? Nobody dislikes flowers, do they?

Rule (5): Exclamatory Sentence

            How sweetly the bird sings, doesn’t it?

            What an interesting book it is, isn’t it? What a cute butterfly it is, isn’t it?

Rule (6): We do not change Modal Auxiliaries here. They are: (Can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, need, dear, ought to, used to and must)

            We ought to love our country, oughtn’t we? You should not defy God, should you?

            He may excuse the fault, mayn’t he? You need not do it, need you?

Rule (7): There (no change), it (no change), Abstract Noun (it), lower animal (it), baby (it), nothing (it)

            There is no mistake in my writing, is there?   The puppy is so cute, isn’t it? The baby is crying, isn’t it? The mother in her rose up, didn’t it? Nothing helps me do it, does it?

Rule (8): Principal Clause ‡_‡KB Avgv‡`i subject নিতে হেবে Sub-ordinate Clause †_‡K bq|

            When he came here, I was sleeping, wasn’t I? (Principal Clause)

            You know who I am, don’t you? (Principal Clause)

            As soon as I reached my school, the bell rang, didn’t it? (Principal Clause)

             If you punch me, I certainly feel pain, don’t I? (Principal Clause)

Rule (9): Subject যদি as well as, together with, along with, accompanied with, (and not + noun) দিয়ে যুক্ত থাকে তাহলে প্রথম subject চি Tag Question এর জন্যৃ ব্যাবহার করতে হয়।

            Jessica as well as her friends may come, mayn’t she? Peter as well as his parents went there, doesn’t he? Ripon and not his brothers got the prizes, didn’t he?

Rule (10): (The + Adjective) plural noun হিসাবে ধরা হয়, আর তাই আমরা এদের Tag Question এর সময় ‘they’ subject হিসাবে ব্যবহার করি।

            The brave deserve the fair, don’t they? The brave can do this, can’t they? The unfed lead a miserable life, don’t they?

Md. Saiful Alam

B. A. Honours and M. A. in English

Lecturer of English

Queen’s College, Dhaka

E-mail: suman64924@gmail.com

My affectionate Readers,

Please, never hesitate to comment and any correction or suggestion regarding my writings will be largely appreciated and valued and you can ask me any grammatical questions regarding English. I promise I would try my level best to assist you, all. Thank you very much.