Tag Questions

Tema: Tag Questions

Resumen del tema: A question tag or tag question is a grammatical structure in which a declarative statement or an imperative is turned into a question by adding an interrogative fragment (the "tag"). For example, in the sentence "You're John, aren't you?", the statement "You're John" is turned into a question by the tag "aren't you". The term "question tag" is generally preferred by British grammarians, while their American counterparts prefer "tag question". Question tags are formed in several ways, and many languages give a choice of formation. In some languages the most common is a single word or fixed phrase, whereas in others it is formed by a regular grammatical construction. Tag questions, when they have the grammatical form of a question, are atypically complex, because they vary according to four factors: the choice of auxiliary, the negation, the intonation pattern and the emphasis. Tag question is made up of an auxiliary verb and a pronoun. The auxiliary has to agree with the tense, aspect and modality of the verb in the preceding sentence. If the verb is in the present perfect, for example, the tag question uses has or have; if the verb is in a present progressive form, the tag is formed with am, are, is; if the verb is in a tense which does not normally use an auxiliary, like the present simple, the auxiliary is taken from the emphatic do form; and if the sentence has a modal auxiliary, this is echoed in the tag: ·         He's read this book, hasn't he? ·         He read this book, didn't he? ·         He's reading this book, isn't he? ·         He reads a lot of books, doesn't he? ·         He'll read this book, won't he?

Aprendizaje del tema: The tag questions are short phrases or questions that are placed at the end of a sentence affirmative or negative and generally aim to confirm or deny the content of the sentence itself. The taq questions have three basic rules that must be remember: ·         Always use auxiliary verbs ·         Affirmative sentences  used in a negative questions taq ·         Used in a negative sentences taq questions in the affirmative or positive ·         The tag questions serve to confirm information or check some facts.  If the sentence is positive you will have to use a negative tag.  example:  Are you listening to me, Are not You?

Referencias ordenadas con el estilo APA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_question