Understanding English Question Tags

Question tags are short questions that are added to the end of a statement. They are used to ask for confirmation or agreement from the listener. The structure of a question tag usually depends on the structure of the main statement.

Forming Question Tags: The Basic Rules

To form a question tag, you generally use the auxiliary verb from the main statement and the subject pronoun. There are two key rules regarding the polarity (positive or negative):

• If the main statement is positive, the question tag is usually negative.
• If the main statement is negative, the question tag is usually positive.

Applying Rules to "You will pass me the newspaper"

Let's look at the given statement:

"You will pass me the newspaper, ______?"

This is a positive statement. The auxiliary verb used is 'will', and the subject is 'You'.

According to the rules:

• The statement is positive, so the tag should be negative.
• The auxiliary verb is 'will'. The negative form of 'will' is 'will not', contracted as 'won't'.
• The subject is 'You', and the corresponding subject pronoun is 'you'.

Combining the negative auxiliary verb and the subject pronoun, the correct question tag is "won't you?".

Analyzing the Options

Let's examine the given options:

1. Will you, please?

This is a polite request, not a standard question tag designed to ask for confirmation. Also, it uses a positive tag with a positive statement, which is generally incorrect for standard question tags.

1. Won’t you?

This option uses the negative contraction of 'will' ('won't') and the correct subject pronoun ('you'). This matches the rules for forming a negative question tag for the given positive statement with 'will' and subject 'you'.

1. Won’t us?
2. Won’t they?

This option uses 'they' as the subject pronoun, but the subject of the original statement is 'You'. The pronoun in the tag must match the subject of the statement.

Therefore, the most appropriate option to fill in the blank is "Won't you?".

Completing the Sentence

The completed sentence is:

"You will pass me the newspaper, won't you?"

Revision Table: Common Question Tags

Additional Information on English Question Tags

Question tags are a common feature of spoken English, although they are less frequent in formal writing. They serve various purposes beyond just seeking confirmation:

• Checking Information: Used when you are fairly sure of the information but want confirmation.
• Encouraging a Response: Used to invite the listener to speak or agree.
• Softening a Statement: Can make a statement sound less direct.

There are some exceptions and special cases when forming question tags:

• For "I am", the tag is "aren't I?" (e.g., I am late, aren't I?).
• For "Let's", the tag is "shall we?" (e.g., Let's go, shall we?).
• For imperatives (commands), the tag can be "will you?" or "won't you?" (e.g., Open the door, will you?).
• Statements with negative words like 'never', 'hardly', 'seldom', 'rarely', 'barely' are treated as negative statements, so they take a positive tag (e.g., He never comes on time, does he?).
• If the subject is 'everyone', 'everybody', 'someone', 'somebody', 'no one', 'nobody', the pronoun in the tag is 'they' (e.g., Everyone is here, aren't they?).

Understanding the main verb, auxiliary verb, and subject is crucial for forming correct question tags.