General English Level 2 GELEV2 Unit 03 Topic 01.doc  LANGUAGE FOCUS 04 Tag questions Tim and Jessica say: Jessica: ...let’s buy our tickets. We can buy tickets over there, can’t we? Tim: Yes, okay... Jessica thinks they can buy tickets there but she isn’t sure. She asks, “…, can’t we?” Tim and Jessica say: Jessica: 22. It’s on the left. We have time to buy a coffee, don’t we? Tim: No, the train comes in 7 minutes. Let’s go. We can get a coffee later. Jessica thinks they have time to buy a coffee but she isn’t sure. She asks, “..., don’t we?” Tim and Jessica say: Jessica: The green one is the airport line, isn’t it? Tim: Um, yes it is……… Jessica thinks the green one is the airport line but she isn’t sure. She asks, “….., isn’t it?” . We can buy tickets over there, can’t we?, We have time to buy a coffee, don’t we? The green one is the airport line, isn’t it? are tag questions. We use tag questions when we think we know the answer but we are not sure and we want to check. We call the last part of a tag question, for example: can’t we?, don’t we? and isn’t it? a question tag. When the first part of the sentence is positive, we use a negative question tag. Look Positive sentence Negative question tag Answer I can use this ticket, can't I? No, you can't. We can park here, can't we? Yes we can. It's cold, isn't Yes, it is. This is the airport train, isn't No, it isn't. It stops at the domestic airport, doesn't it? Yes it does. He comes from Canada, doesn't he? Yes he does. You like coffee, don't you? Yes I do. We have enough time, don't we? Yes we do. 80 QUESTLANGUAGE