Tag Questions.

In a tag question, the speaker makes a statement, but is not completely certain of the truth, so he or she uses a tag questions to verify the previous statement. Sentences using tag questions should have the  main clause separated from the tag by a comma.  The sentence will always end with a question mark. Observe the following rules: (Dalam tag question, pembicara mengajukan sebuah pernyataan, tetapi ia tidak sepenuhnya yakin akan kebenarannya. Jadi dia menggunakan tag question untuk meyakinkan kebenarannya atas statement tersebut. Kalimat yang menggunakan taq question harus memiliki induk kalimat yang dipisahkan oleh “koma” dan diakhiri dengan tanda tanya (?). Perhatikan rules yang berikut:

1. Use the same auxiliary verb as in the main clause.  If there is no auxiliary, use do, does, or did.  (Pakailah kata kerja auxiliary yang sama dengan yang dip0akai dalam kalimat pokok. Apabila tidak ada auxiliary, maka do, does, did yang harus dip0akai).
2. If the main clause is negative, the tag is affirmative; if the main clause is affirmative, the tag is negative. (Apabila kalimat pokok dalam bentuk negative, maka tag question harus dalam bentuk positif).
3. Don’t change the tense.
4. Negative forms are usually contracted (n’t).  (If they are not, they follow the order : auxiliary + subject+ not: He saw this yester, did he not?) (Untuk bentuk negative biasanya dipakai bentuk “n’t”, tapi bila tidak maka harus mengikuti aturan berikut: auxiliary + subjek + not). —lihat contoh kalimat diatas.
5. There is, there are, and it is forms contain a pseudo-subject so the tag will also contain there or it as if it were a subject pronoun. (Bentuk-bentuk there is, there are  dan it is berisi subjek semu, jadi tag juga akan berisi there or it  akan sama seolah-olah subjek pronoun).
6. The verb have may be used as a main verb (I have a new car) or it may be used as an auxiliary (John has gone to class already).

Note: Apabila fungsi have sebagai kata kerja utama, dalam bahasa American English, maka bentuk auxiliary do, does or did yang harus digunakan sebagai tag question. Contoh: She has an exam tomorrow, doesn’t  she?

Examples of sentences of tag questions:

• There are  only twenty-eight days in February, aren’t there?
  
• It’s raining now , isn’t it? It isn’t raining now, is it?
• The boys don’t have class tomorrow, do they?
• You and I talked with the professor yesterday, didn’t we?
• You won’t be leaving for another hour, will you?
• Jill and Joe have been to Mexico, haven’t they?
• You have two children, don’t you? (American English)
• You have two children, haven’t you (British English).

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