Question Tags

Question Tags

Tag questions (or question tags) turn a statement into a question. They are often used for checking information that we think we know is true.

Postive sentences, with negative tags

Present simple 'be'	She's Italian, isn't she?
Present simple other verbs	They live in London, don't they?
Present continuous	We're working tomorrow, aren't we?
Past simple 'be'	It was cold yesterday, wasn't it?
Past simple other verbs	He went to the party last night, didn't he?
Past continuous	We were waiting at the station, weren't we?
Present perfect	They've been to Japan, haven't they?
Present perfect continuous	She's been studying a lot recently, hasn't she?
Past perfect	He had forgotten his wallet, hadn't he?
Past perfect continuous	We'd been working, hadn't we?
Future simple	She'll come at six, won't she?
Future continuous	They'll be arriving soon, won't they?
Future perfect	They'll have finished before nine, won't they?
Future perfect continuous	She'll have been cooking all day, won't she?
Modals	He can help, can't he?
Modals	John must stay, mustn't he?

Negative sentences, with positive tags

Present simple 'be'	We aren't late, are we?
Present simple other verbs	She doesn't have any children, does she?
Present continuous	The bus isn't coming, is it?
Past simple 'be'	She wasn't at home yesterday, was she?
Past simple other verbs	They didn't go out last Sunday, did they?
Past continuous	You weren't sleeping, were you?
Present perfect	She hasn't eaten all the cake, has she?
Present perfect continuous	He hasn't been running in this weather, has he?
Past perfect	We hadn't been to London before, had we?
Past perfect continuous	You hadn't been sleeping, had you?
Future simple	They won't be late, will they?
Future continuous	He'll be studying tonight, won't he?
Future perfect	She won't have left work before six, will she?
Future perfect continuous	He won't have been travelling all day, will he?
Modals	She can't speak Arabic, can she?
Modals	They mustn't come early, must they?

Note 1: If in a imperative sentence, somebody is being offered anything, or if someone is being asked to do something, "will you/ would you" is used in the question tag.

E.g- 

• Open the door, would you?
• Have some more tea, would you?
• Don't open your books, will you?

Note 2: If the sentence starts with "let us/ let's ", " shall we" is used in the question.

E.g.-

Let us go to party tonight, shall we?

Complete the sentences with the correct question tags.

1.      Mr McGuinness is from Ireland, ?

2.      The car isn't in the garage, ?

3.      You are John, ?

4.      She went to the library yesterday, ?

5.      He didn't recognize me, ?

6.      Cars pollute the environment, ?

7.      Mr. Pritchard has been to Scotland recently, ?

8.      The trip is very expensive, ?

9.      He won't tell her, ?

10.  Hugh had a red car, ?

Framing questions

Framing Questions

Types of questions

There are two types of questions:

• Yes or no questions
• Wh questions

1. Yes/No questions

Yes/No questions are questions to which the answer is Yes or No

Look at these statements:

They are working hard.
They will be working hard.
They had worked hard.
They have been working hard.
They might have been working hard.

We make Yes/No questions by putting the subject, they, after the first part of the verb:

Are they working hard?
Will they be working hard?
Had they worked hard?
Have they been working hard?
Might they have been working hard?

2. Negatives

We make negatives by putting not after the first part of the verb:

They are not working hard
They will not be working hard
They had not worked hard
They have not been working hard
They might not have been working hard

In spoken English we often reduce not to n’t:

They aren’t working hard.
They won’t be working hard
They hadn’t been working hard
etc.

3. Questions and negatives with present simple and past simple forms:

For all verbs except be and have we use do/does and did with the base form of the verb to make Yes/No questions for the present simple and past simple forms:

They work hard >>> Do they work hard?
He works hard >>> Does he work hard?
They worked hard >>> Did they work hard?

For all verbs except be and have we make negatives by putting not after do/does and did for the present simple and past simple forms:

They work hard >>> They do not (don’t) work hard
He works hard >>> He does not (doesn’t) work hard
They worked hard >>> They did not (didn’t) work hard.

The verb have:

We make questions and negatives with have in two ways:

·         normally we use do/does or did for questions :

Do you have plenty of time?
Does she have enough money?
Did they have any useful advice?

·         and negatives:

I don’t have much time.
She doesn’t have any money.
They didn’t have any advice to offer.

·          … but we can make questions by putting have, has or had in front of the subject:

Have you plenty of time?
Had they any useful advice?

·         … and we can make negatives by putting not or n’t after have, has or had:

We haven’t much time.
She hadn’t any money.
He hasn’t a sister called Liz, has he?

4.  Wh-questions

Wh-questions are questions which start with a question-asking word, either a Wh- word (what, when, where, which, who, whose, why) or questions with the word how.

Questions with: when, where, why:

We form wh-questions with these words by putting the question word in front of a Yes/No question:

Where are they working?
Why have they been working hard?
Where does he work?
Where will you go?
When did they arrive?
etc.

Question words	Meaning	Examples
who	person	Who's that? That's Nancy.
where	place	Where do you live? In Boston
why	reason	Why do you sleep early? Because I've got to get up early
when	time	When do you go to work? At 7:00
how	manner	How do you go? By car
what	object, idea or action	What do you do? I am an engineer
which	choice	Which one do you prefer? The red one.
whose	possession	Whose is this book? It's Alan's.
whom	object of the verb	Whom did you meet? I met the manager.
what kind	description	What kind of music do you like? I like quiet songs
what time	time	What time did you come home?
how many	quantity (countable)	How many students are there? There are twenty.
how much	amount, price (uncountable)	How much time have we got? Ten minutes
how long	duration, length	How long did you stay in that hotel? For two weeks.
how often	frequency	How often do you go to the gym? Twice a week.
how far	distance	How far is your school? It's one mile far.
how old	age	How old are you? I'm 16.
how come	reason	How come I didn't see you at the party?

Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"I'm going to the cinema", he said.	He said he was going to the cinema.

Tense change

As a rule when you report something someone has said you go back a tense: (the tense on the left changes to the tense on the right):

Direct speech		Indirect speech
Present simple  She said, "It's cold."	›	Past simple  She said it was cold.
Present continuous  She said, "I'm teaching English online."	›	Past continuous  She said she was teaching English online.
Present perfect simple  She said, "I've been on the web since 1999."	›	Past perfect simple She said she had been on the web since 1999.
Present perfect continuous  She said, "I've been teaching English for seven years."	›	Past perfect continuous  She said she had been teaching English for seven years.
Past simple  She said, "I taught online yesterday."	›	Past perfect  She said she had taught online yesterday.
Past continuous  She said, "I was teaching earlier."	›	Past perfect continuous  She said she had been teaching earlier.
Past perfect  She said, "The lesson had already started when he arrived."	›	Past perfect  NO CHANGE - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived.
Past perfect continuous She said, "I'd already been teaching for five minutes."	›	Past perfect continuous  NO CHANGE - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes.

Modal verb forms also sometimes change:

Direct speech		Indirect speech
will She said, "I'll teach English online tomorrow."	›	would She said she would teach English online tomorrow.
can She said, "I can teach English online."	›	could She said she could teach English online.
must She said, "I must have a computer to teach English online."	›	had to  She said she had to have a computer to teach English online.
shall She said, "What shall we learn today?"	›	should She asked what we should learn today.
may She said, "May I open a new browser?"	›	might She asked if she might open a new browser.

!Note - There is no change to; could, would, should, might and ought to.

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"I might go to the cinema", he said.	He said he might go to the cinema.

You can use the present tense in reported speech if you want to say that something is still true i.e. my name has always been and will always be Lynne so:-

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"My name is Lynne", she said.	She said her name was Lynne. or She said her name is Lynne.

You can also use the present tense if you are talking about a future event.

Direct speech (exact quote)	Indirect speech (not exact)
"Next week's lesson is on reported speech", she said.	She said next week's lesson will be on reported speech.

Time change

If the reported sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it to fit in with the time of reporting.

For example we need to change words like here and yesterday if they have different meanings at the time and place of reporting.

Now	+ 24 hours - Indirect speech
"Today's lesson is on presentations."	She said yesterday's lesson was on presentations. or She said yesterday's lesson would be on presentations.

Expressions of time if reported on a different day
this (evening)	›	that (evening)
today	›	yesterday ...
these (days)	›	those (days)
now	›	then
(a week) ago	›	(a week) before
last weekend	›	the weekend before last / the previous weekend
here	›	there
next (week)	›	the following (week)
tomorrow	›	the next/following day

In addition if you report something that someone said in a different place to where you heard it you must change the place (here) to the place (there).

For example:-

At work	At home
"How long have you worked here?"	She asked me how long I'd worked there.

Pronoun change

In reported speech, the pronoun often changes.

For example:

Me	You
"I teach English online."	Direct Speech She said, "I teach English online." "I teach English online", she said. Reported Speech She said she teaches English online. or She said she taught English online.

!Note - We usually use told.

For example: Lynne told me (that) she'd never been to China.

There are many other verbs we can use apart from said, told and asked.

These include:-

accused, admitted, advised, alleged, agreed, apologised, begged, boasted, complained, denied, explained, implied, invited, offered, ordered, promised, replied, suggested and thought.

Using them properly can make what you say much more interesting and informative.

For example:

He asked me to come to the party:-

He invited me to the party.

He begged me to come to the party.

He ordered me to come to the party.

He advised me to come to the party.

He suggested I should come to the party.

Top of Form

1. I said,' This man is a real nincompoop'. I said that .

2. She said to me,' You are singing very melodiously'. She told me that .

3. You said,' I killed a rat rather wickedly'. You said that .

4. He said,' I have done amazingly well today'. He said that .

5. We said,' We were watching a truly absorbing movie'. We said that .

6. She said,' I may badly need some medical help soon'. She said that  .

7. You said to me,' You can do this ridiculously easy task'. You told me that .

8. I said,' I shall certainly take care of all eventualities'. I said that .

9. He said,' I will teach him a lesson to remember me by'. He said that .

10. They said,' We have put up an extraordinary performance indeed' . They said that
.