1. Negative Yes/No Questions and Tag Questions3
Negative Yes/No Questions and Tag Questions
This Isn’t Dangerous, Is It?
Focus on Grammar 4
Part III, Unit 7
By Ruth Luman, Gabriele Steiner, and BJ Wells
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. “This isn’t dangerous, is it?”
These parachutes work, don’t they?
You haven’t done this before, have you?
Isn’t this fun?
We won’t get hurt, will we?

3. Use
Use negative yes/no questions and tag questions to: check information you believe to be true OR comment on a situation.
Isn’t the view great?
Don’t I pull the blue cord?
I pull the blue cord, don’t I?
In both sentences the speaker believes that he should pull the blue cord and wants to check this information.
In both sentences the speaker is commenting on the view.
The view is great, isn’t it?

4. Negative Yes/No Questions
Like affirmative yes/no questions, negative yes/no questions begin with a form of be or an auxiliary verb, such as have, do, will, can, or should.
Can’t you swim
somewhere else?
Haven’t you
had lunch yet?
Didn’t you see the shark warning sign?
Aren’t sharks vegetarians?

5. It’s a long way down, isn’t it? I went the wrong way, didn’t I?
Tag Questions 1
Form tag questions with statement + tag. The statement expresses an assumption. The tag means Right? OR Isn’t that true?
Tag
It’s a long way down, isn’t it?
Tag
I went the wrong way, didn’t I?
Statement
Statement

6. You won’t talk for too long, This rope will hold me, won’t it?
Tag Questions 2
If the statement verb is affirmative, the tag verb is negative. If the statement verb is negative, the tag verb is affirmative.
Negative
Affirmative
You won’t talk for too long,
will you?
This rope will hold me, won’t it?
Negative
Affirmative

7. Tag Questions 3
Form the tag with a form of be or an auxiliary verb, such as have, do, will, can, or should. Use the same auxiliary that is in the statement.
He has done this before, hasn’t he?
He isn’t joking, is he?
You bought life insurance, didn’t you?

8. Tom isn’t enjoying this, is Tom? That wasn’t my parachute, was it?
Be Careful!
In the tag, only use pronouns. When the subject of the statement is that, the subject of the tag is it.
Tom isn’t enjoying this, is Tom?
he?
That wasn’t my parachute, was it?

9. Practice 1 Complete the tag questions with the correct tag.
Example: You can swim, …
can’t you?
This is high enough, …
The rope won’t break, …
We don’t have enough food, …
He didn’t bring the helmets, …
She hasn’t given us the right parachutes, …
We should check the map, …
Our guide, Bob, does this all the time, …
isn’t it?
will it?
do we?
did he?
has she?
shouldn’t we?
doesn’t he?

10. Intonation 1 You’re right. I didn’t wear a seat belt.
Use tag questions in conversations when you expect the other person to agree with you. In this type of tag question, the voice falls on the tag.
You’re right. I didn’t wear a seat belt.
That hurts, doesn’t it?
You didn’t wear a seatbelt, did you?
This type of tag question is more like a statement than a question. The listener can just nod or say uh-huh to show that he or she is listening and agrees.
The speaker is checking information he believes is correct. He expects the listener to answer (and agree).
Uh-huh.

11. Intonation 2 This isn’t dangerous, is it?
Tag questions can be used to get information. This type of tag question is more like a yes/no question. Like a yes/no question, the voice rises at the end, and you usually get an answer.
This isn’t dangerous, is it?
That’s what they told us in the skydiving class.
The speaker wants to confirm his information because he is not sure it is correct.
Well, sometimes there are sharks.
This parachute will open before we land, won’t it?

12. Answers There’s a hospital nearby, isn’t there? No, it doesn’t.
Answer negative yes/no questions and tag questions the same way you answer affirmative yes/no questions.
The answer is no, if the information is not correct.
There’s a hospital nearby, isn’t there?
No, it doesn’t.
Yes, there is.
The answer is yes, if the information is correct.
Doesn’t your parachute work?

13. No, we don’t. We just like to hug.
Write dialogues for each picture using tag questions or negative yes/no questions, and answers for each picture.
Practice 2
Example:
Eels don’t bite, do they?
No, we don’t. We just like to hug. 1. 2.

14. References
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