Question Tags in Talks – 3
We use question tags, short responses, prompts etc. during talks, without these things the conversation would
become mechanical, boring and monotonous.
Prior information
FIRST SECOND AND THIRD PERSON
Person
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
First person
|
I
|
We
|
Second
Person
|
You
|
You
|
Third
person
|
He/She/It
|
They
|
First person refers to the
speaker. Second person refers to the listener. Third
person refers to the
person or any thing the first and second person speak
about. The term 'person'
includes non living things too.
NOTE: ‘He’ and ‘she’ include
all singular nouns/pronouns, ‘it’ includes all collective nouns, proper nouns,
common nouns noun Phrases etc. ‘they’
includes all plural nouns.
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
sentences 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. When 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
RULE TO FRAME QUESTION TAGS, (Past Tense)
Person
|
Mood
|
Sentence
|
Q tags
|
First
|
Positive
(Singular)
Negative
(Singular)
Positive
(Plural)
Negative
(Plural)
|
I
saw you
I
didn’t see you….
We
saw you….
We
didn’t see you….
|
Didn’t
I?
Did
I ?
Didn’t
we?
Did
we?
|
Second
|
Positive
(Singular)
Negative
(Singular)
Positive
(Plural)
Negative
(Plural)
|
You
saw her…
You
didn’t see her…..
You
saw her…
You
didn’t see her..
|
Didn’t
you?
Did
you?
Didn’t
you?
Did
you?
|
Third
|
Positive
(Singular)
Negative
(Singular)
Positive
(Plural)
Negative
(Plural)
|
He/she/it
saw …
He/she/it
doesn’t see..
They
saw her ……
They
didn’t see….
|
Didn’t
he/she/it?
Did
he/she/it?
Didn’t
they?
Did
they?
|
They didn’t
attend the meeting, did they?
Jim didn’t
go to Washington. did he?
She applied
for a job, didn’t she?
We worked
hard, didn’t we?
He waited
for three hours, didn’t he?
RULE TO FRAME QUESTION TAGS, (Future Tense)
Person
|
Mood
|
Sentence
|
Q tags
|
First
|
Positive
(Singular)
Negative
(Singular)
Positive
(Plural)
Negative
(Plural)
|
I
will do that
I
won’t do that….
We
will do that….
We
won’t do that….
|
Won’t
I?
Will
I?
Won’t
we?
Will
we?
|
Second
|
Positive
(Singular)
Negative
(Singular)
Positive
(Plural)
Negative
(Plural)
|
You
will do that…
You
won’t do that…
You
will do that…
You
won’t do that
|
Won’t
you?
Will
you?
Won’t
you?
Will
you?
|
Third
|
Positive
(Singular)
Negative
(Singular)
Positive
(Plural)
Negative
(Plural)
|
He/she/it
will do that
He/she/it
Won’t do that
They
will do that ……
They
won’t do that
|
Won’t
he/she/it?
Will
he/she/it?
Won’t
they they?
Will
they ?
|
They won’t
come tomorrow, will they?
The
president will visit next week, Won’t he/she?
You won’t
attend the class, will you?
Question tags with other tenses
Present continuous/progressive Tense
I am joining
with you today, aren’t I?
We/you/they
are meeting today at 10, aren’t we?
He/she/it isn’t
coming today, Is he/she/it?
Present Perfect
I/we/you/they
haven’t seen her, Have I/we/you/they?
I/we/you/they
have seen her, Haven’t I/we/you/they?
He/she/it
hasn’t arrived at, has he/she/it?
The flight
hasn’t landed at yet, has it?
Past Perfect
I/we/you/they/he/she/it
hadn’t started yet, had I/we/you/they/he/ she/ it?
I/we/you/they/he/she/it
had seen it, hadn’t I/we/you/they/he/she/it ?
With other auxiliaries
Could/Could
have
They couldn’t
meet the senator, Could they?
You could
have met the boss after the meeting, Couldn’t you?
Yes I could,
but I lost my courage.
Would
The CEO would be sympathetic towards the striking
workers, wouldn’t he?
No, I am afraid
he wouldn’t.
Should
I think we
should plan right now, Shouldn’t we?
He
shouldn’t smoke any more, should he? .
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