Questions and tags

To ask a question in English you must usually use one of the auxiliary verbs (be, do, have) or a modal verb such as can, will, may. If you are expecting a yes/no answer, then the question starts with the auxiliary or modal. Here are some examples:

• Is she Japanese?
• Do you like German food?
• Can you play chess?
• Have you seen Miho?
• Must I go to school tomorrow?
• Did you know the answer?
• Is she coming to your party?
• Will you be able to help me?

If you want more information than a simple yes/no answer, you must ask a question starting with one of the following question words: what, where, when, why, which, who(m), whose, how. In this kind of question you also normally use an auxiliary or modal:

• What did you say?
• Where does she live?
• When can you play chess?
• Why must I go to school tomorrow?
• Which book have you borrowed?
• Who has taken my calculator?
• Whose bag is this?
• How did you know the answer?

* Note that questions starting with the question words what/who/whose do not need an auxiliary verb in the simple present or past. For example: What happened? Who knows the answer? Whose parents came to Open Day?

The questions what, which, whose are often followed by a noun (before the auxiliary/modal). The question how is often followed by an adjective. Look at the following examples:

• What time must we be there?
• What kind of music do you listen to?
• Which painting do you like the best?
• Whose parents are coming to the meeting tomorrow?
• How long have you lived in Germany?
• How much money do you have?
• How far is your house from the school?

Do a quiz on question words.

We quite often want to ask a question containing a preposition. In spoken English the preposition is usually put at the end of the question, as in the following examples?

• Who did you go to the party with?
• Who are you talking to?
• What are you talking about?
• Where is Miho from?
• What did you say that for?
• What kind of place do you live in?

Note: It is possible to begin questions with the preposition. ESL students should avoid this, however. Even in written English such questions sound too formal: With whom did you go to the party? From where is Miho?

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A special type of question is the tag that English speakers put at the end of many statements. The tags in the following sentences are shown in red:

• It's a lovely day today, isn't it?
• You live in Frankfurt, don't you?
• Miho can't speak German, can she?
• You haven't seen Miho, have you?
• His parents are very old, aren't they?
• You will remember to call me, won't you?

Tags are very common in spoken English, and have many functions. One of the common functions is to start a conversation or help keep it going. The two basic rules about tag questions are:

1. If the statement is negative, the tag must be positive. If the statement is positive the tag must be negative.
   - You don't like me, do you?
   - You won't tell him my secret, will you?
   - He doesn't speak German, does he?
   - You're coming to my party, aren't you?
   - She's really good at chess, isn't she?
   - You haven't done your homework, have you?
2. The tense of the tag is determined by the tense of the auxiliary/modal verb of the statement that precedes it. If the statement does not use an auxiliary/modal (i.e. it is in the present or past simple tense), then the auxiliary to do must be used.
   - She comes from Korea, doesn't she?
   - You like heavy metal music, don't you?
   - He got top grade in the math test, didn't he?
   - I really messed up, didn't I?

A problem with tags is getting the intonation right. Basically, it depends whether or not you are expecting an answer to your question. Look at these two examples:

• He's from Italy, isn't he? (flat or falling intonation - short pause before the tag - more a statement than a question, not really expecting an answer)
• He's from Italy, isn't he? (sharply rising intonation - longer pause before the tag - a question expecting an answer)

Do a quiz on question tags.