Question tags and short responses
Introduction
We use question tags, short responses, prompts etc. during talk, without these things the conversation would become mechanical, boring and monotonous.
Prior information
Subject: The person or thing that we speak about in a sentence is called subject. A subject can be a noun, pronoun, common noun, collective noun adjectives etc. In the structures below we have used pronouns as subjects. Subject normally comes at the beginning of a sentence. It is more convenient to make sentences if the subject is in the form of a pronoun. Whey you make a sentence always convert subject to it’s pronoun form mentally ( If the subject is not in the pronoun form). They are only nine pronouns (Personal) of all the subjects in the world, namely I, we, you, he, she, it, they
Auxiliary Verb
Helping verb like am, is, are, was, were etc. are called auxiliary verbs.
Question tags in conversation
It is common practice in talks to make a statement and ask for confirmation .
It’s a nice place to stay (‘isn’t it?) - ‘isn’t it’ is called a question tag.
Sentence pattern
If the statement is positive the question tag is negative (Auxiliary verb + not + subject)
If the statement is negative the question tag is positive (Auxiliary + subject)
Model sentences
It was raining last night, wasn’t it ?
Julia isn’t in the office, is she?
You look beautiful, aren’t you
They are Italians, aren’t they
The boss isn’t busy, is he?
Those aren’t your shoes, are they?
Those are your books, aren’t they
Shane won’t come tomorrow, Will she?
They can win, can’t they?
Joe can’t swim, can he?
Off the Pattern sentences
I am on time today, aren’t I?
Let’s have some coffee, shall we?
Have some more drink, will you?
There is someone behind the wall, isn’t there?
Wait a minute, can you?
Short response in conversation
Short responses are common with questions beginning with auxiliary
Are they coming now? Yes they are / no they aren’t
Is you father a pilot? Yes he is / no he isn’t.
Can you play chess? Yes I can/ no I can’t
Will you come tomorrow? Yes I will / No I won’t
Was she in Berlin last week? Yes she was/ no she wasn’t
End of the blog
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