Tag Question Special Cases

Negative Adverbs

The adverbs never, rarely, seldom, hardly, barely and scarcely have a negative sense. Even though they may be in a positive statement, the feeling of the statement is negative. We treat statements with these words like negative statements, so the question tag is normally positive. Look at these examples:

positive statement treated as negative statement	positive tag
He never came again,	did he?
She can rarely come these days,	can she?
You hardly ever came late,	did you?
I barely know you,	do I?
You would scarcely expect her to know that,	would you?

Intonation

We can change the meaning of a tag question with the musical pitch of our voice. With rising intonation, it sounds like a real question. But if our intonation falls, it sounds more like a statement that doesn't require a real answer:

	intonation
You don't know where my wallet is,	do you?	/ rising	real question
It's a beautiful view,	isn't it?	\ falling	not a real question

Imperatives

Sometimes we use question tags with imperatives (invitations, orders), but the sentence remains an imperative and does not require a direct answer. We use won't for invitations. We use can, can't, will, would for orders.

	imperative + question tag	notes:
invitation	Take a seat, won't you?	polite
order	Help me, can you?	quite friendly
	Help me, can't you?	quite friendly (some irritation?)
	Close the door, would you?	quite polite
	Do it now, will you.	less polite
	Don't forget, will you.	with negative imperatives only will is possible

Same-Way Tag Questions

Although the basic structure of tag questions is positive-negative or negative-positive, it is sometimes possible to use a positive-positive or negative-negative structure. We use same-way tag questions to express interest, surprise, anger etc, and not to make real questions.
Look at these positive-positive tag questions:

• So you're having a baby, are you? That's wonderful!
• She wants to marry him, does she? Some chance!
• So you think that's amusing, do you? Think again.

Negative-negative tag questions usually sound rather hostile:

• So you don't like my looks, don't you? (British English)

Asking For Information Or Help

Notice that we often use tag questions to ask for information or help, starting with a negative statement. This is quite a friendly/polite way of making a request. For example, instead of saying "Where is the police station?" (not very polite), or "Do you know where the police station is?" (slightly more polite), we could say: "You wouldn't know where the police station is, would you?" Here are some more examples:

• You don't know of any good jobs, do you?
• You couldn't help me with my homework, could you?
• You haven't got $10 to lend me, have you?

Some More Special Cases

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...
I have been answering, haven't I?	use first auxiliary
Nothing came in the post, did it?	treat statements with nothing, nobody etc like negative statements
Let's go, shall we?	let's = let us
He'd better do it, hadn't he?	he had better (no auxiliary)

Now we'll look at some examples of tag questions of all types.

No one, nobody, nothing, nowhere

No one, nobody, nothing and nowhere are indefinite pronouns.

We use no one, nobody, nothing and nowhere to refer to an absence of people, things or places. We use them with a singular verb:

Nobody ever goes to see her. She’s very lonely.

You usually have to wait for a long time. Nothing happens quickly.

There was nowhere to park the car.

We often use the plural pronoun they to refer back to (singular) no one or nobody when we do not know if the person is male or female:

No one remembers the titles of the books they’ve read.

No one or nobody?

No one and nobody mean the same. Nobody is a little less formal than no one. We use no one more than nobody in writing:

I knew nobody at the party.

No one moved; no one said anything.

We write no one as two separate words or with a hyphen: no one or no-one but not noone.

Nobody or not … anybody, etc.

Nobody, no one, nothing, nowhere are stronger and more definite than not … anybody/anyone/anything/anywhere:

I did nothing. (stronger than I didn’t do anything.)

She told no one, not even her mother. (stronger than She didn’t tell anyone …)

We don’t use not + anyone/anything/anywhere as the subject of a clause:

Nothing will make me change my mind.

Not: Not anything will make me change my mind.

We don’t use nobody, no one, nothing, nowhere after no, not, never or other words which have a negative meaning (hardly, seldom). We use anyone, anybody, anything, anywhere:

I can’t do anything.

Not: I can’t do nothing.

She talks to hardly anyone.

Not: She talks to hardly no one.

Subject vs. Object Questions

Study these sample questions: SUBJECT QUESTION: A subject question asks about the subject of the sentence. Do NOT change the word order of the question. ANSWER QUESTION Gina is fixing the computer.    Who is fixing the computer? An accident happened last week.    What happened last week? OBJECT QUESTION: An object question asks about the object of the sentence. You MUST change the word order of the question. ANSWER QUESTION Gina met Mary.    Whom did Gina meet? <--formal Gina met Mary.    Who did Gina meet? <--informal Frank saw an accident.    What did Frank see?

EXERCISES:

Choose the correct questions using the following prompts. You should ask a question about the word underlined:

1. I bought a newspaper this morning.
    What bought you this morning?
    What did you buy this morning?
    What you did buy this morning?

2. Something odd happened during the storm last night.
    What happened during the storm last night?
    What did happen during the storm last night?

3. One of the students didn't do the final exam.
    Who didn't the final exam do?
    Who didn't do the final exam?

4. I wrote a romantic letter to one of the teachers.
    Who did you write a romantic letter to?
    Who wrote you a romantic letter?

5. Something disturbed me when I was working.
    What did you disturb when you were working?
    What disturbed you when you were working?
    What did disturb you when you were working?

6. I dreamt about a strange animal last night.
    What did you dream about last night?
    What dreamed about you last night?

7. Somebody rang me at 3am last week!
    Who did you ring at 3am last week?
    Who you rang at 3am last week?
    Who rang you at 3am last week?

8. Someone gave me a watch for my birthday.
    Who gave you a watch for your birthday?
    Who did give you a watch for your birthday?

ALSO WE CAN DO THIS EXCERSICE, WE CAN VISIT THIS PAGE

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=719

Subject Questions

Subject questions have no subject in the question. Any present / past simple verbs should go in the past / present simple tense, not the infinitive form.
  
   Only What and Who can be used in this kind of question.

Question word	verb	object
Who	likes / needs / wants is following / calling saw / called	me / you / him / her / us / them? the film?
What	happened (to is happening (to	me / you / him / her / us / them?)

     Who likes me? What happened to you?

     In the present tense, always use the third person singular form of the verb.
     What happens next?           NOT            What happen next?

Common mistakes:
1)            Some students use an auxiliary verb in an subject question.
     What did happen?         =>     What happened?
     Who did meet you at the station?=>     Who met you at the station?

How much or how many - Exercise

Use how much or how many from the dropdown menu to complete the questions. Mind countable and uncountable nouns. Example: ________ salt is in the sea? Answer: How much salt is in the sea?

1) ...........................stars are in the sky? 2) .......................... people live on islands? 3) .......................... birds are there? 4) ..........................water is in the ocean? 5) .......................... money is in a bank? 6) .......................... countries are in the world? 7) .......................... bread is eaten per day? 8) ..........................bones are in the human body? 9) .......................... sand is in the deserts? 10) .......................... information is on the internet?

How many and how much

We useHow much with  uncountable nouns (nouns that you cannot count such as money, wine, oil etc)...You cannot make them plural . You can't say one money, or three oils.
We useHow many with  countable nouns (nouns that you can count such as books, countries etc). We can make these nouns plural. You also  use how many with a plural verb.

Countable nouns
	Noun
	Countable	A dog You can count dogs.	An apple You can count apples.	A car You can count cars.	An umbrella You can count umbrellas.	A glass You can count glasses.	A candle You can count candles.
	Question	How many dogs are there?	How many apples are there?	How many cars are there?	How many umbrellas are there?	How many glasses are there?	How many candles are there?
	Answer	There's one dog.	There are two apples.	There are three cars.	There are four umbrellas.	There are five glasses.	There are six candles.

Uncountable nouns do not take an article and do not have a plural form.