Taq question

Tag Questions with “To Be”

Click HERE for a description of tag questions, a device by which a statement is turned into a question. When we use “To be” verbs in a tag question, the basic formula follows: the verb is combined with a pronoun and sometimes with not (usually in a contracted form). Positive statements are followed by negative tags; negative statements by positive tags.

• Robert Frost was America's favorite poet, wasn't he?
• He wasn't widely accepted in this country at first, was he?
• You were going to skip this poem, weren't you?
• There were several typographical errors in this anthology, weren't there? (Be careful here. It's not “weren't they.”)
• I am not a very good reader, am I?
• I'm a better reader than you, aren't I?

(Don't try to make sense of this last construction. It is acceptable. In very formal text, you might write “am I not” instead. “Ain't” is not regarded as acceptable except in text attempting to duplicate substandard speech.)