Frequently Asked Questions: Interrogative Tags in English Grammar

Interrogative Tags and Their Usage in English

There is no difference between an interrogative tag and a question tag. Let's examine some frequently asked questions regarding them:

Q1: What is an interrogative tag?

A1: An interrogative tag (or question tag) is a short question added to the end of a statement. For example, in London and southeast Britain, you might hear He left the country, innit?. However, innit? is not part of standard English at present, but over time it may well become acceptable.

Q2: Can subjects act as the antecedents of pronouns in interrogative tags?

A2: Yes, subjects can act as the antecedents of pronouns in interrogative tags. Here are some examples:

1. Prosecutors stopped the video, didn’t they?
2. I deleted it manually, didn’t I?
3. A court in India postponed the release of a film entitled Hari Puttar, didn’t it?
4. Tony likes films with lots of gratuitous violence, doesn’t he?
5. I assumed that I must’ve come through the questioning satisfactorily, didn’t I?
6. That Moro felt certain he was being sacrificed is evident from his last letters, isn’t it?

Italicised portions are interrogative tags, whose bolded pronouns have the Subjects of the matrix clauses as their antecedents. Notice that it is used in (6) to refer to the clausal Subject (That Moro…sacrificed)

Q3: How can we determine if a clause is positive or negative using interrogative tags?

A3: We can determine whether a clause is positive or negative by adding an interrogative tag. Negative clauses are usually followed by a positive interrogative tag, and vice versa. Examples:

• Negative Clauses with Positive Tags:
  1. Well they won’t learn anything if they mess about, will they?
  2. Oh god, she just doesn’t listen, does she?
• Positive Clauses with Negative Tags:
  1. And he will be happy sticking to blue wallpaper, won’t he?
  2. The Levites had a role in the other temples, didn’t they?

Q4: Are there exceptions to the positive/negative rule in interrogative tags?

A4: Yes, there are exceptions. Sometimes positive clauses have positive tags and negative clauses have negative tags. Clauses containing words such as barely, few, hardly, or scarcely are also negative, as demonstrated by adding an interrogative tag:

1. You can hardly ask for it back, can you?

Q5: How is the verb HAVE used in interrogative tags?

A5: The verb HAVE can be attached to the Subject in shortened form, as in (1), or left out, as in (2):

1. It’s got to sound as though it fits in somehow, hasn’t it?
2. You got to have the money, though, haven’t you?

In (2), we know HAVE is left out because of the presence of the interrogative tag haven’t you? Interrogative tags always ‘pick up’ the verb in the matrix clause.

Feel free to use the Contact Page to ask any more questions or to get more information.