Contractions/ Question Tag/ Tag question

Cadet College Admission Test 2019

Preparation

Contractions/ Question Tag/ Tag question

‘Tag’ means ‘to add’.                                                                                                                                                                                             

 The question that is added at the end of a conversation to assess approval is called ‘Tag Question’.

Some Contractions am not = aren’t, is not = isn’t, are not = aren’t, was not = wasn’t, were not = weren’t, will not = won’t, shall not = shan’t, can not = can’t, could not = couldn’t, may not = mayn’t, might not = mightn’t,  must not = mustn’t, has not = hasn’t, have not = haven’t, had not = hadn’t, do not = don’t, doesn’t, did not = didn’t, ought not = oughtn’t, dare not = daren’t,  need not = needn’t.

ASSERTIVE SENTENCE

Rule-1.Tag Question with auxiliary verbs.

Examples: He is a student, isn’t he?  I am a student, aren’t I? They are going to the railway station, aren’t they?

Rule-2.Tag Question without auxiliary verbs.( don’t , didn’t, doesn’t are used to make Tag Question).

Examples: He reads the daily newspaper, doesn’t he?  He caught a butterfly, didn’t he?  We drink tea, don’t we?

Rule 3. Positive Tag question for negative statement.

Examples: Rina doesn’t make a fun, does he?  Nishita will not realize the matter, will she?

IMPERATIVE SENTENCE:

Rule-1. Positive Command, order or instruction take-won’t you?/will you?/can’t you?/could you?/

Examples: Open the window, won’t you?   Do the work at once, will you?  Speak the truth, can’t you?

Rule-2. Imperative with ‘Don’t’ at the starting takes only ‘will you?’.

Examples: Don’t tell a lie, will you? Do not go out, will you?

Rule-3. Imperative Sentence with Let’s/ let us takes only ‘shall we’?

Examples: Let’s do the work, shall we?  Let’s not do the work, shall we?

Rule- 5: Let him, Let her, Let them, let Rina etc. take ‘will you?’

Examples:Let them play well, will you? Let him discuss the matter, will you?

EXCLAMATORY SENTENCE

Rule-1. Exclamatory Sentence with ‘Be verb’ changes into proper contraction.

Examples: how nice the flower is, isn’t it?  What a fantastic game it was?

Rule-2: Exclamatory Sentence without ‘Be Verb’ changes into proper contractions of  ‘Don’t, Doesn’t, Didn’t.

Examples: How sweetly the bird sings, doesn’t it?  How nicely the bird sang, didn’t it?

SOME EXCEPTIONAL QUESTION-TAG

Rule- 1: If the subject is ‘Nothing /Anything/Something/Everything,’ the subject in the ‘Question Tag’ will be ‘It’. Examples: Nothing is certain, is it? Everything was lost, wasn’t it? Something is better than nothing, is it?

Rule-2:  If the subject is ‘Everybody/Anybody/ Somebody/ Everyone/ Someone/ Anyone/ Nobody/ None’, the subject in the ‘Question Tag’ will be ‘They’.

Examples: Everybody likes flowers, don’t they? Somebody came here, didn’t they? Anybody can do this, can’t they?    Everyone has left the place, haven’t they? Someone will go there, won’t they? Anybody may do the sum, mayn’t they? Nobody phoned, did they? None can help me, can they?

Rule-3: If subject is ‘all of us/ some of us/ everyone of us/ most of us’, the subject will be ‘We’.

Examples: All of us came to the party, didn’t we? None of us can solve such kind of sum, can we?

Rule -4:  If the subject is ‘all of them,/some of them/everyone of them/most of them’, the subject will be ‘they’.

Examples: all of them are active, aren’t they? Most of them were active, weren’t they?

Rule-5: if the subject is ‘ all of you/ some of you / none of you/  most of you/ everyone of you’, the subject will be ‘you’.

Examples: Some of you did well, didn’t you?  All of you can sing better, can’t you?

Rule-6:

Examples: I’d go there soon, wouldn’t I?  They’d gone to the party, hadn’t they?

EXCEPTIONAL

BETWEEN

British Style and American style

Rule-1:She had a pen, hadn’t she? (British Style) She had a pen, didn’t she? (American Style)

(Both are correct rules. But you should follow American Style.)

ADVICES

1.        To improve your skills in ‘Tag Question’, practise more and more.

2.        If you couldn’t understand any rule clearly, take help from your teacher.