a positive question tag = a negative statement + a positive question tag
| Negative statement |
Positive tag |
| You aren't a teacher, |
are you? |
| He isn't crazy, |
is he? |
| He wasn't relaxed, |
was he? |
| They weren't late, |
were they? |
| You don't speak English, |
do you? |
| You didn't study for the test, |
did you? |
| You haven't been here all week, |
have you? |
| You hadn't done it, |
had you? |
| You won't fail the exam, |
will you? |
| You can't drive a car, |
can you? |
| You couldn't do it for me, |
could you? |
| We mustn't say anything, |
must we? |
| You shouldn't be so busy, |
should you? |
| You wouldn't stop me, |
would you? |
NOTE:
The statement sentences with words such as neither no, none, no one, no body, nothing, scarcely, barely, hardly, hardly ever, seldom, etc. which are, strictly speaking, treated as negative, are followed by an ordinary positive ‘tag’.
Examples:
- No salt is allowed, is it?
- Nothing was lost, was it?
- Lee hardly worked, did he?
- Sarah seldom visits us, does she?