Understanding Tag Questions in English Grammar

Tag questions are short questions added to the end of statements. They are used to ask for confirmation or to check if someone agrees with you. The general rule for forming tag questions is: if the statement is positive, the tag is negative; if the statement is negative, the tag is positive.

Let's analyze the given sentence: "She is quite clever, ______ ?"

• The statement is "She is quite clever".
• This statement is positive.
• The verb used is "is" (a form of the verb 'to be').
• The subject is "She".

According to the rules for tag questions:

• Since the statement is positive, the tag question must be negative.
• The tag question must use the same auxiliary verb as the statement (or the main verb 'be' if no auxiliary is present), which is "is".
• The tag question must use the same pronoun as the subject of the statement, which is "she".

Combining these points, the negative tag question using "is" and "she" is "isn't she?". ('isn't' is the contraction of 'is not').

Analyzing the Options

Let's evaluate the provided options based on the rules we just discussed for forming the correct tag question for "She is quite clever, ______ ?".

1. is she: This is a positive tag question. Since the statement ("She is quite clever") is positive, the tag should be negative. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
2. aren't she: This option uses "aren't" (are not). The verb in the statement is "is", not "are". Also, "aren't" is not grammatically correct with the pronoun "she". Therefore, this option is incorrect.
3. is it: This option uses the pronoun "it". The subject of the statement is "She". The pronoun in the tag question must match the subject of the statement. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
4. isn't she: This option uses "isn't" (is not), which is a negative contraction matching the positive statement. It uses the correct verb ("is") and the correct pronoun ("she"). This follows all the rules for forming a tag question for the given statement. Therefore, this option is correct.

The most appropriate option to fill in the blank is "isn't she". The complete sentence is "She is quite clever, isn't she?".

Revision Table: Tag Question Rules Summary

Here is a quick summary of the basic rules for forming tag questions:

Additional Information on Tag Questions

While the basic rules cover many cases, here are a few additional points about tag questions:

• Statements with negative words like 'never', 'seldom', 'hardly', 'rarely', 'scarcely' are treated as negative statements, and thus take a positive tag question. Example: He never comes late, does he?
• For statements starting with "I am...", the tag question is typically "aren't I?". Example: I am right, aren't I? (Note: "amn't I" is sometimes used informally but "aren't I" is more standard).
• For statements with "Let's...", the tag question is "shall we?". Example: Let's go home, shall we?
• For imperative sentences, the tag question can be "will you?", "won't you?", "can you?", etc., depending on the tone (request, command). Example: Open the door, will you? Don't be late, will you?

Understanding these nuances helps in using tag questions correctly in different contexts.