To get information, it is important to formulate the question correctly. There are 5 types of different questions in English. One of them is a separator, which is set in order to clarify something or make sure that one is right.
Why do we need tag questions in English?
Tag questions (or questions with a tail) are an integral part of everyday speech. In Russian, they correspond to the phrases “isn't it”, “isn't it”, “yes”, added at the end of the sentence. Sometimes the tail of a disjunctive question in English is not translated into Russian at all. This is relevant for requests, reminders to do something, including those with a negative connotation, for example:
- Don't phone me again, will you? ("Don't call me again")
- Close the window, would you? (“Close the window, please”).
Classic variants of questions with a tail allow you to ask the interlocutor about something, get an affirmative or negative question. At the same time, disjunctive questions in English differ from general questions in the way they are formed, intonation andpurpose. But the answers to them may be the same.
- It's bitter cold today, isn't it? – Yes, it is. (“It’s very cold today, isn’t it? – Yes”).
- You have done your homework, haven't you? - No, I haven't. (“Did you do your homework? - No”)
If in the second case it was possible to ask a general question, although it would be less polite, then in the first case it is inappropriate: the speaker himself knows perfectly well what the weather is like.
How tag questions are formed
The first thing to learn in the formation of this type of question is that if the phrase is affirmative, the tail will be negative and vice versa. Simply put, if the verb did not have a negation before the comma, it will appear after the comma. And if there is a negative particle not next to the verb, it will disappear in the second part of the question.
Of course, disjunctive questions in English are built taking into account the tense form of the predicate. The easiest way to understand this is in the forms of the verb to be. It should also be noted that any noun that acts as a subject is replaced in the tail with a similar personal pronoun.
- George is a doctor, isn't he? ("George is a doctor, isn't he?")
- Your parents were in Spain last summer, weren’t they? (“Your parents were in Spain last summer, right?”)
- Mary will be ten in two weeks, won't she? ("Mary will be 10 in 2 weeks, won't she?")
When the predicate contains a semantic verb (read, sleep, drive),First you need to determine the time of the offer. The endings will help to do this (-s in the present tense in the forms of the 3rd person singular; -ed for regular verbs in the past tense). If the verb is difficult to identify, it means that it is used in the 2nd or 3rd form in the sentence, it must be looked for in the table of irregular verbs.
For a negative tail in the present tense, you need an auxiliary verb do or does; in the past tense, respectively, did.
Another nuance that allows you to quickly master the disjunctive question in English is to pay attention to the number of words in the predicate before the comma. If there is only one verb (but not the form of the verb to be), you will need the do/does/did helper in the tail (as in the examples above). If there are two or three verbs, the tail will be formed with the first of them. The latter case includes both compound tenses (future, present continuous, past continuous, all completed tenses) and the use of modal verbs. The same is true for the negative first part, when the tail is positive. For example:
- This businessman has made a lot of money, hasn't he?
- Your brother can climb a tree faster than others, can’t he?
- You aren't going for a walk today, are you?
- His sister doesn't like basketball, does she?
Difficult use cases
These include the imperative mood, sentences with a negative adverb or pronoun, some exceptions. When confronted with them,substitute a specific verb in the tail, which does not always correspond to the predicate from the first part.
In the imperative mood, sentences begin immediately with a verb, including Let's or negative Don't, they are addressed to the interlocutor/s, so the pronoun you will always be in the tail, and in the case of Let's - we. For example:
- Listen to your teacher attentively, will you? (“Listen carefully to the teacher.”)
- Don't be late, will you? ("Don't be late").
- Let's go out tonight, shall we? ("Let's go somewhere today").
The pronouns nobody, none, few, not many, nothing, little, neither, hardly any, scarcely any have a negative meaning, which means that in sentences with them after the comma the verb will be in the affirmative form, as well as in the predicate itself (the rule of one negation). The presence of one of the negative adverbs (never, seldom, scarcely, rarely, nowhere, hardly, barely) also requires a positive completion of the question.
Turnovers beginning with There … keep this word in the tail after the auxiliary verb. Finally, after I am at the beginning of a sentence, aren’t I?
The role of intonation
The exact meaning of the question depends on the intonation with which the disjunctive question is asked. If the tone of voice rises at the end of a question, the speaker is unsure of the information and wants an answer. If the intonation is descending, a simple confirmation of the sounded thought is required, often such questions are asked with the aim ofkeep up the conversation.
How are answers to disjunctive questions constructed?
Before giving a response, we have to analyze the question itself, without a tail: a positive or negative first part requires different answer formulas. A simple option, when the speaker uses the affirmative form of the predicate, requires the same Yes and No as in answers to a general question. Next comes the pronoun corresponding to the object of the question, and the auxiliary verb.
It's a little harder to answer tag questions in English when the first part is negative. Agreeing with the speaker, the answer should begin with Yes; disagreeing - with no. Next is a pronoun and an auxiliary verb. For example:
- Karen is a good tennis player, isn't she? – Yes, she is (consent).
- We can take a car, can't we? – No, we can’t (disagree).
- He didn't return the book, did he? – No, he didn’t (agree).
- It doesn't rain often here, does it? – Yes, it does (disagree).
It is impossible to ignore, learning English, dividing questions. Exercises, for example, according to R. Murphy's textbooks and constant practice will help overcome the difficulties associated with this grammatical phenomenon.
