Unit3SportsandFitnessDiscoveringUsefulStructures课件高中英语人教版((1))

Tagquestionstag

asmallpieceof

paper,

plastic

etc

attached

tosomethingtoshowwhatitis,whoownsit,whatit

costs

etc.name/identity/pricetagWhatisatagquestion?AtagquestionisaspecialconstructioninEnglish.Itisastatementfollowedbyamini-question.Weusetagquestionstoaskforconfirmation.Theymeansomethinglike:"Isthatright?"or"Doyouagree?"TheyareverycommoninEnglish.Thebasicstructureofatagquestionis:

positivestatementnegativetagSnowiswhite,isn'tit?negativestatementpositivetagYoudon'tlikeme,doyou?

Noticethatthetagrepeatstheauxiliaryverb(ormainverbwhen

be)fromthestatementandchangesittonegativeorpositive.PositiveStatementTagQuestionsLookattheseexampleswith

positivestatements.Youwillseethatmostofthetime,theauxiliaryverbfromthepositivestatementisrepeatedinthetagandchangedtonegative.(+)positivestatement(-)negativetagsubjectauxiliary

mainverbauxiliary

notpersonalpronounsameassubjectYouarecoming,aren’tyou?Wehavefinished,haven’twe?Youdolikecoffee,don’tyou?Youlikecoffee,don’tyou?Theywillhelp,won’tthey?subjectauxiliary

mainverbauxiliary

notpersonalpronounsameassubjectIcancome,cann’tI?Wemustgo,mustn’twe?Heshouldtryharder,shouldn’the?YouareEnglish,aren’tyou?Johnwasthere,wasn’the?Notice:theuseof

do

inthetwocoffeequestions.RememberthatinPresentSimple,

do

isoptionalinpositivestatements(Youlikecoffee/Youdolikecoffee).Butthe

do

mustappearinthetag.ThesameappliestoPastSimple

did.inlasttwoquestions,noauxiliaryformainverb

be

inPresentSimpleandPastSimple.Thetagrepeatsthemainverb.NegativeStatementTagQuestionsLookattheseexampleswith

negativestatements.Noticethatthenegativeverbintheoriginalstatementischangedtopositiveinthetag.(-)negativestatement(+)positivetagsubjectauxiliary

mainverb

auxiliarypersonalpronounsameassubjectItisn'training,

isit?Wehaveneverseenthat,havewe?Youdon'tlikecoffee,doyou?Theywillnothelp,

willthey?Theywon'treportus,willthey?subjectauxiliary

mainverb

auxiliarypersonalpronounsameassubjectIcanneverdo

itright,canI?Wemustn'ttell

her,mustwe?Heshouldn'tdrive

sofast,shouldhe?Youwon'tbe

late,willyou?You

aren'tEnglish,areyou?John

wasn’tthere,washe?Notice:won't

isthecontractedformof

willnotthetagrepeatstheauxiliaryverb,notthemainverb.Except,ofcourse,fortheverb

be

inPresentSimpleandPastSimple.AnsweringTagQuestionsHowdoweansweratagquestion?Often,wejustsay

Yes

or

No.Sometimeswemayrepeatthetagandreverseit(Theydon'tlivehere,

dothey?Yes,

theydo).Beverycarefulaboutansweringtagquestions.Insomelanguages,anoppositesystemofansweringisused,andnon-nativeEnglishspeakerssometimesanswerinthewrongway.Thiscanleadtoalotofconfusion!Answeratagquestionaccordingtothe

truth

ofthesituation.Youranswerreflectstherealfacts,not(necessarily)thequestion.Forexample,everyoneknowsthatsnowiswhite.Lookatthesequestions,andthecorrectanswers:tag

questionSnowiswhite,isn'tit?Yes(itis).Snowisn'twhite,isit?Yes,

it

is!Answerissameinbothcases–becausesnow

iswhite.

Snowisblack,isn'tit?No,

it

isn't!Snowisnotblack,isit?No,

it

isn't!Answerissameinbothcases-becausesnow

isnotblack!Butnoticechangeof

stress

whenanswererdoesnotagreewithquestioner.Insomelanguages,peopleansweraquestionlike"Snowisn'tblack,isit?"with"Yes"(meaning"Yes,Iagreewithyou").Thisisthe

wronganswer

inEnglish!Herearesomemoreexamples,withcorrectanswers:Themoongoesroundtheearth,doesn'tit?Yes,itdoes.Theearthisbiggerthanthemoon,isn'tit?Yes.Theearthisbiggerthanthesun,isn'tit?

No,it

isn't!Asianpeopledon'tlikerice,dothey?

Yes,they

do!ElephantsliveinEurope,don'tthey?

No,they

don't!Mendon'thavebabies,dothey?No.TheEnglishalphabetdoesn'thave40letters,doesit?No,itdoesn't.TagQuestionSpecialCasesNegativeadverbsTheadverbs

never,

rarely,

seldom,

hardly,

barely

and

scarcely

haveanegativesense.Eventhoughtheymaybeinapositivestatement,thefeelingofthestatementisnegative.Wetreatstatementswiththesewordslikenegativestatements,sothequestiontagisnormallypositive.Lookattheseexamples:positivestatement

treatedas

negativestatementpositivetagHe

never

cameagain,didhe?Shecan

rarely

comethesedays,canshe?You

hardly

evercamelate,didyou?I

barely

knowyou,doI?Youwould

scarcely

expecthertoknowthat,wouldyou?Intonation

Wecanchangethe

meaning

ofatagquestionwiththemusicalpitchofourvoice.Withrisingintonation,itsoundslikearealquestion.Butifourintonationfalls,itsoundsmorelikeastatementthatdoesn'trequirearealanswer:

intonationYoudon'tknowwheremywalletis,doyou?/risingrealquestionIt'sabeautifulview,isn'tit?\fallingnotarealquestionImperatives

Sometimesweusequestiontagswithimperatives(invitations,orders),butthesentenceremainsanimperativeanddoesnotrequireadirectanswer.Weuse

won't

forinvitations.Weuse

can,can't,will,would

fororders.imperative+questiontagnotesTakeaseat,won'tyou?politeinvitationHelpme,canyou?quitefriendlyHelpme,can'tyou?quitefriendly(someirritation?)Closethedoor,wouldyou?quitepoliteDoitnow,willyou.lesspoliteDon'tforget,willyou.withnegativeimperativesonly

will

ispossibleSame-waytagquestions

Althoughthebasicstructureoftagquestionsispositive-negativeornegative-positive,itissometimespossibletouseapositive-positiveornegative-negativestructure.Weusesame-waytagquestionstoexpressinterest,surprise,angeretc,andnottomakerealquestions.Lookatthesepositive-positivetagquestions:Soyou'rehavingababy,areyou?That'swonderful!Shewantstomarryhim,doesshe?Somechance!Soyouthinkthat'sfunny,doyou?Thinkagain.Negative-negativetagquestionsusuallysoundratherhostile:Soyoudon'tlikemylooks,don'tyou?(BritishEnglish)Askingforinformationorhelp

Noticethatweoftenusetagquestionstoaskforinformationorhelp,startingwithanegativestatement.Thisisquiteafriendly/politewayofmakingarequest.Forexample,insteadofsaying"Whereisthepolicestation?"(notverypolite),or"Doyouknowwherethepolicestationis?"(slightlymorepolite),wecouldsay:"Youwouldn'tknowwherethepolicestationis,wouldyou?"Herearesomemoreexamples:Youdon'tknowofanygoodjobs,doyou?Youcouldn'thelpmewithmyhomework,couldyou?Youhaven'tgot$10tolendme,haveyou?Somemorespecialcases

examplenotesI

am

right,

aren'tI?aren'tI(not

amn'tI)You

have

togo,

don'tyou?you(do)havetogo...I

havebeen

answering,

haven'tI?usefirstauxiliaryNothing

cameinthepost,

did

it?treatstatementswith

nothing,nobodyetc

likenegativestatementsLet'