Page 211 - Basic English Usage

213 272 — 273

272 questions: reply questions

We often answer people with short ‘questions’. Their structure is

| auxiliary verb + personal pronoun |

,
‘it was a terrible party.’ ‘Was it?’ ‘Yes, ...
These ‘reply questions’ do not ask for information. They just show that
we are listening and interested. More examples:
‘We had a lovely holiday.’ ‘Did you?’ ‘Yes. We went...’
‘I've got a headache.’ ‘Have you, dear? !'ll get you an aspirin.’
John likes that girl next door.’ ‘Oh, does he?’
‘| don't understand.’ ‘Don’t you? I'm sorry.’
We can answer an affirmative sentence with a negative reply question.
This is like a negative-question exclamation (see 120.3) — it expresses
emphatic agreement.
‘It was a lovely concert.’ ‘Yes, wasn’t it? | did enjoy it.’
‘She's put on a lot a weight.’ ‘Yes, hasn’t she?’
Question tags have a similar structure. See 273.
See also 293 (short answers).

273 question tags

We often put small questions at the ends of sentences in speech.
That's the postman, isn't it? You take sugar in tea, don’t you?
Not a very good film, was it?
We use these ‘question tags’ to ask if something is true, or to ask
somebody to agree with us.

Structure
We do not put question tags after questions.
You’re the new secretary, aren’t you?
(NOT Are-yetrihenew )
arertyot?
secretary
We put negative tags after affirmative sentences, and non-negative tags
after negative sentences.

foot = Ud] LE rt

It’s cold, isn’t it? It’s not warm, is it?
If the main sentence has an auxiliary verb (or be), the question tag has
the same auxiliary verb (or be).
a
Sally'can'speak French, ean’t she?
————CS
You haven't seen my key8, have you?
The meeting’s at ten, isn’t it?