Tag Questions
| I am right, aren't I? | aren't I (not amn't I) |
| You have to go, don't you? | you (do) have to go... |
| I have been answering, haven't I? | use first auxiliary |
| Nothing came in the post, did it? | treat statements with nothing, nobody etc like negative statements |
| Let's go, shall we? | let's = let us |
| He'd better do it, hadn't he? | he had better (no auxiliary) |
Notice that we often use tag questions to ask for information or help, starting with a negative statement. This is quite a friendly/polite way of making a request. For example, instead of saying "Where is the police station?" (not very polite), or "Do you know where the police station is?" (slightly more polite), we could say: "You wouldn't know where the police station is, would you?" Here are some more examples:
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You don't know of any good jobs, do you?
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You couldn't help me with my homework, could you?
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You haven't got $10 to lend me, have you?
Question tags with imperatives
Sometimes we use question tags with imperatives (invitations, orders), but the sentence remains an imperative and does not require a direct answer. We use won't for invitations. We use can, can't, will, would for orders.
| imperative + question tag | notes: | |
| invitation | Take a seat, won't you? | polite |
| order | Help me, can you? | quite friendly |
| Help me, can't you? | quite friendly (some irritation?) | |
| Close the door, would you? | quite polite | |
| Do it now, will you? | less polite | |
| Don't forget, will you? | with negative imperatives only will is possible |
off: http://englishcenter.blogfa.com/post-88.aspx
+ نوشته شده در شنبه دهم مرداد ۱۳۸۸ ساعت 21:49 توسط MMB
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بناب، خ دانشجو، ساختمان صالح مطلق 2،