tag question

I . INVERSION
- In formal English the subject and verb are occasionally inverted, to give emphasis or literary or
dramatic effect. This should be avoided in spoken or informal English.
INVERSION may takes place in :
A Adverb clauses beginning with Scarcely/hardly...
when/before, No sooner... than
-Hardly had he raised the alarm(,) when the
fire engine arrived.
B Negative adverb clauses beginning with Under/in no
circumstances, On no account, In vain, At no time, In no
way, Never/Not for one moment, Seldom, Rarely, Barely,
Never (before)
-At no time did they actually break the rules
of the game.
-Never had Tom been treated like that before!
C Negative adverb clauses beginning with only + a time
expression, as in only after, only later, only once, only
then, only when
Adverb clauses beginning with only + other prepositional
phrases such as: only by..., only in..., only with...
-Only after thay had finished eating did they
get back to work.
-Only by chance had Teresa discovered where
the birbs were nesting.
D Clauses beginning with not..., such as not only, not until,
and also not + object
-Not until he retired did he think about a
holiday abroad.
-Not a sound did she make as she crept
upstairs.

E Conditional clauses to replace if-clauses
NOTE: in negative clauses with inversion, we don’t use
contracted forms.
-Should the rope break, the dinghy will float
away.
-It would be a serious setback , were the talk
to fail.
-Had Colin not informed the police, he would
be in danger now. (NOT: Hadn’t he...)
F Clauses with so + adjective (or little, few, much, many) or
such + be ... that
-So dangerous did weather condition become,
that all mountain roads were closed.
-So much did he love her that he bought her a
hundred roses on her birthday.
Such was my annoyance that I tore the letter.
G Negative-meaning clauses using little at the beginning -Little did Laura realize what would happen
to her next.
H After only
NOTE: notice the use of Not only... but also
-Only yesterday did I hear the news.
-Not only did we get lost but we also lost our
passports.
I Clauses with *here and *there, and other adverbial
expressions of place or direction ( in formal and literary
styles).
Inversion usually occurs with verbs like: be, climb, come,
fly, go, hang, lie, run, sit, stand.
Inversion usually occurs with adverbs like: back, down, in,
off, up, around

NOTE: do/did are not used in this case and inversion does
not take place if the subject is a pronoun or if the continuous
tense is used.
-Here comes the bus!
-Look! There go the students on their way to
school.
-In the corner sat the boy sadly.
-Up into the sky flew the little bird.
K Clauses beginning with neither/nor or so, particularly
common in short answers
-Neither do I.
-Nor is he.
-So are you.
-The council never wanted the new
supermarket to be built, nor did the local
students.
L Comparision with as and than (in formal written language).
NOTE: we don’t invert subject and verb when the subject is
a pronoun.
-That cake was excellent, as was the coffee.
-I believe, as did my colleagues, that the plan
would work.
-I know a lot more about computers than does
my sister.
II/ TAG QUESTION:
A tag question is a special construction in English. It is a statement followed by a mini-question. We use tag
questions at the end of statements to ask for confirmation or agreement. They are very common in English.
 The basic structure is:
+ -
Positive statement, nagative tag?

Ex: Snow is white, isn't it?
Peter helped you, didn't he?
Mary will come, won't she?
The weather should be bad, shouldn't it?
- +
Negative statement positive tag?
Ex : There wasn’t enough time, was there?
But he can't swim, can he?
We'd never have known, would we?
This won't work, will it?
 Answers to tag questions:
Answer a tag question according to the truth of the situation. Your answer reflects the real facts, not
(necessarily) the question.
Ex: The moon goes around the earth, doesn’t it? ~Yes, it does.
The Asian people don’t like rice, do they? ~Yes, they do.
The English alphabet doesn’t have 40 letters, does it? ~No, it doesn’t.
Snow is black, isn’t it? ~No, it isn’t.
 Some special cases :
1) Ex: I am right, aren’t I? -> aren’t I ( not amn’t I)
You have to go, don’t you? -> you (do) have to go…
He’d better do it, hadn’t he? -> he had better (no auxiliary)
2) The statements which contain these words neither, no (adjective), none, no one, nobody, nothing,
scarcely, barely, hardly, hardly ever, seldom are used as negative statements and followed by positive
tag.
Ex: No salt is allowed, is it?
Nothing was said, was it?
Peter hardly ever goes to parties, does he?
3) When anyone, nobody, none, neither, something, everyone, someone, etc is the subject in the
statement, we use it in the tag to refer to something or nothing and they in the tag to refer to someone
or nobody

Ex: Everyone warned you, didn’t they?
Someone had recognized him. hadn’t they?
Something happened at Jack’s house, didn’t it?
Neither of them complained, did they?
4) Question tags with imperatives and let’s :
After imperatives, we sometimes add will you?, won’t you?, etc. We use won’t for invitations and
can, can’t, will, would for orders. After let’s we add shall we?
Ex: Don’t stay there long, will you?
Help me, can’t you?
Let’s have buttered scones with strawberry jam for tea, shall we?
Close the door, would you?
5) Omission of pronoun subject and auxiliary verb:
In very informal speech, we sometimes leave out pronoun subjects, auxiliary verbs and verb to be in
the sentence.
Ex: Awful weather, isn’t it? (= It’s awful weather, isn’t it?)
Keeping well, are you? (= You’re keeping well, aren’t you?)
Nobody at home, is there? (= There’s nobody at home, is there?)
6) Same-way question tags:
We use same-way question tags to express interest, surprise, anger etc,and not to make real question
Ex: So she’s having a baby, is she? That’s wonderful. (positive-positive structure)
You don’t think that’s amusing, do you? Think again. (positive-positive structure)
Peter doesn’t like my looks, doesn’t he? (negative-negative structure -> rather hostile)
 Intonation :
If we use rising intonation in the tag, we do not know or are not sure what the answer will be. If we use a
falling intonation in the tag, we are simply seeking agreement.
Ex: You haven’t seen my tennis shoes, have you? (

rising) ~No, I’m sorry. I haven’t.
I couldn’t borrow your dress by any chance, could you? (


rising) ~No. They wouldn’t fit you.
It’s been a lovely wedding, hasn’t it? (

falling) ~Wonderful.
I thought David looked handsome and well-groomed in his wedding dress, didn’t he? (

falling) ~Yes, he
did. Absolutely handsome.