Grammar Practice in Context - David Bolton, Noel Goodey 1997
21 Question tags: It’s cold, isn’t it?
Quick reference
• We use question tags at the encl of a sentence to ask if what we said is true or not, or if the other person agrees or not.
• If we say something positive, the question tag is usually negative.
Positive
It’s cold,
Negative
isn’t it?
• If we say something negative, the question tag is positive.
Let’s go, shall we? Open the door, will you/сап you?
Everybody came, didn’t they? Somebody has stolen it, haven’t they?
There’s a problem, isn’t there? There aren’t any tickets, are there?
• We can use a positive tag after a positive statement to express interest, sympathy, surprise or sarcasm.
This is your new computer, is it? You’ve got a headache, have you ?
You had too much io drink, did you?
1 Two men are watching a football match. Match the two parts of each sentence.
1 They're not playing well,
2 And they didn’t play well last week,
3 They lost 3-0,
4 Their defence isn’t very good,
5 But the new goalkeeper’s quite good,
6 The problem is, they can’t score goals,
7 They’ll have to sack the manager,
8 He hasn’t done very well,
a) has he?
b) are they?
c) did they?
e) is it?
f) didn’t they?
g) won't they?
h) can they?
i) isn’t he?
1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8...
2 Some tourists are going round the Oxford university colleges. Read what they say and decide which answer, A, B, or C best fits each space.
There are lots of colleges, (1) ...? But you can’t see anything from the outside, (2) ...? They’re beautiful inside, though, (3) ...? They've got lovely gardens, (4) ...? The students look bored, (5) ...? They must get fed up with tourists like us, (6) ...?
1 A aren’t there
2 A can’t you
3 A are they
4 A haven’t they got
5 A don’t they
6 A must they
В isn’t there
В can you
В they are
В haven’t they
В aren’t they
В they must
C is there
C you can’t
C aren’t they
C have they
C do they
C mustn’t they
3 Two people are watching a film on television. One of them likes to talk at the same time. Add the correct question tags.
’It’s not a very good film (1) ...?’
’It’s OK.’
’Those two cars are going to crash, (2) ...?'
’I don’t know.’
’I said they would, (3) ...?’
’Yes, you did.’
’That man’s got a gun, (4) ...?’
’Yes, I can see that.’
’He’s not going to shoot her, (5) ...?’
’I don’t know.’
’He looks really evil, (6) ...?’
’Shut up! You can never keep quiet, (7) ...?’
4 Two English people are lost in Barcelona. They are arguing. Complete the dialogue, using question tags.
’I’ve no idea where the station is.’
’We should have bought a map, (1) ...? I told you, (2) …?’
’Well, we’ll have to ask someone, (3) ...? Let’s ask a policeman, (4) ...?’
’But there aren’t any policemen, (5) ...? And we can’t speak Spanish, (6) ...?’
’But everyone speaks English nowadays, (7) ...? So I’ll go and ask that woman over there.
Look after my suitcase for me, (8) ...?’
(Later)
’Well, what did she say?’
’No problem. I understood everything she said, I think. We go straight on, then we turn right, er no, left, at the lights, then we, er, ...’
’So you understood everything she said, (9) ...? You can understand Spanish,
(10) ...?’
’Don’t be so sarcastic! 1 think we’d better get a taxi.’
’But we haven’t got enough money for a taxi, (11) ...? We shouldn’t have spent all our money in that restaurant last night, (12) ...? And that was your idea, (13) ...?’
’Well, you chose the wine, (14) ...? You said it was only 400 pesetas, but it was 4,000 pesetas, (15) ...? That wasn't my fault, (16) ...?’
’Well, it doesn’t matter now, (17) ..., because we’ve missed our train, (18) ...?’