Past continuous & Question tags — O/L English

What must I remember about Past continuous & Question tags?

• Exclamatory sentence structures convey strong emotion: 'What + (a/an) + (adjective) + noun!' ('What a magnificent performance!') and 'How + adjective/adverb + Subject + Verb!' ('How brilliantly she played!').
• Question tag polarity rule: Positive statement takes a negative tag ('You enjoy comedy, don't you?'); Negative statement takes a positive tag ('They haven't arrived, have they?').
• Question tags maintain the auxiliary or modal verb of the main statement: 'can -> can't you?', 'will -> won't she?', 'did -> didn't they?'.
• Simple Present and Simple Past statements without visible auxiliaries use 'do/does/did' in their tags ('He sings well, doesn't he?', 'They won, didn't they?').
• Irregular and imperative tag conventions: 'I am right, aren't I?'; 'Let's begin, shall we?'; 'Close the window, will you / would you?'.

Test yourself (1 minute)

1. The 'I am' question tag trap

   Never write 'amn't I' in standard English; the standard O/L tag for 'I am' is strictly 'aren't I?'.

2. Negative adverbs create negative statements

   Statements containing 'seldom', 'hardly', 'scarcely', or 'never' are grammatically negative and require positive tags (e.g., 'She seldom complains, DOES she?').

3. Punctuation of tags

   A question tag must always be preceded by a comma and concluded with a question mark.

Practise Past continuous & Question tags questions today

Source: NIE G.C.E. (O/L) English Language Syllabus (Grade 11, Unit 6)

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Grade 11 · Term 2